NFF dismisses Libya’s poor treatment allegations, claims Libya caused own problems

The Nigeria Football Federation has rejected claims of poor treatment on arrival in Nigeria by the captain of Libya’s senior men’s national team, Faisal Al-Badri.

The NFF insists the Libyan Football Federation created chaos for its own team.

NFF’s Assistant Director (Protocol), Emmanuel Ayanbunmi, said the Libyan Federation only informed the NFF that its team was landing in Port Harcourt and not Uyo, only three hours before the team’s arrival on Tuesday.

“I spoke to the General Secretary of LFF at length on Monday, 7th October, and he never hinted that his team would be arriving on Tuesday (the following day). He only said he would get back to me but he never did. On Monday evening, someone sent as an advance party by the LFF called me and said his team would be arriving on Tuesday by noon. We made all arrangements to receive the team in Uyo on arrival.

“It was only an hour after the team was airborne that he told me the delegation would be landing in Port Harcourt. That disrupted so many things, but we still raced on hurdles to get approval from federal authorities to allow their plane to fly them to Uyo once they concluded immigration formalities in Port Harcourt. Apparently, that would have meant additional cost to the LFF from the charter company, and they didn’t want that, so they preferred to travel from Port Harcourt to Uyo by road.”

Mr Ayanbunmi added that the Libyan delegation jettisoned road transportation arrangements made for them by the NFF and instead hired buses on their own.

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“If they travelled on buses that were not air-conditioned, that had nothing to do with the NFF as they hired their own buses. We provided security for them, with men and vehicles in front and behind their buses, so we are unmoved about their complaints and threats.”

Nigeria and Libya meet at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium on Friday at 5 p.m. in an AFCON 2025 Group D qualifier. Nigeria leads with four points from two matches. Libya is bottom of the group and faces the Nigerians in a doubleheader on Friday and Tuesday, hoping to rejuvenate their chances of qualifying for the 2025 AFCON scheduled for Morocco.