VIDEO: ‘Do me, I do you,’ Libya diverts Super Eagles’ flight in revenge poor treatment

By Olaolu Bilau in Abuja

Libyan authorities have been accused of treating the Super Eagles of Nigeria in a manner that could disorient the team’s performance as they set to meet the Libyan national team on Tuesday.

Former Press Officer of the Nigerian Super Eagles, Oluwatoyin Ibitoye dropped the hint in a post on X on Sunday night.

Sharing a video of the team at the airport, he wrote, “Ahead of Tuesday’s #2025AFCONQs in Benina, Libya, the Libyans have started unpacking the dirty tricks in their bag in a bid to unsettle the @NGSuperEagles.The Libyan authorities are holding our team hostage at the Al Abaq airport in Al Abaq.

“About an hour to landing, with the Nigerian aircraft approaching its destination, Benghazi, it was diverted to another city more than two hours by road from the original destination.”

Watch the video below:

The Super Eagles had travelled to Libya for the second leg of the AFCON 2025 Group D qualifier. Nigeria defeated Libya by a loan goal during the first leg at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo on Friday.

Nigeria leads in it’s group while Libya is bottom of the group and faces the Nigerians on Tuesday, to rekindle their chances of qualifying for the 2025 AFCON scheduled for Morocco.

The development appears to be a revenge poor treatment by the Libyans after the captain of the Libyan senior men’s national team, Faisal Al-Badri accused the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) of poor treatment on arrival in Nigeria for the first leg match.

Reports indicate that on arrival in Nigeria, the Libyan team were made to travel by road from Port Harcourt to Uyo, a journey of about 2 hours.

However, the NFF had dismissed the allegations of poor treatment, insisting the Libyan Football Federation created the circumstances that made them travel by road.

The NFF’s Assistant Director of Protocol, Emmanuel Ayanbunmi, had said the Libyan Federation informed the NFF of its team decision to land in Port Harcourt and not Uyo, three hours before the team’s arrival last Tuesday ahead of their Saturday match.

“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.”

The Libyan delegation, Ayanbunmi added, abandoned the road transportation arrangements made for them by the NFF and hired buses on their own.

“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, ” he said.