The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has rejected allegations made by Libya’s national team captain, Faisal Al-Badri, regarding poor treatment upon their arrival in Nigeria.
Al-Badri claimed that the Mediterranean Knights were not well received, but the NFF insists that the Libyan Football Federation (LFF) created the logistical problems for themselves.
Emmanuel Ayanbunmi, NFF’s Assistant Director (Protocol), explained that the LFF only notified the NFF about their change in arrival location a few hours before landing.
He said, “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).
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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.”
However, just hours before their scheduled landing, the Libyan team informed the NFF they would be arriving in Port Harcourt instead of Uyo.
“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.”
Ayanbunmi pointed out that the decision to travel by road from Port Harcourt to Uyo was made by the Libyan delegation, not the NFF.
“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.”
Furthermore, Ayanbunmi clarified that the Libyan team had rejected the transportation options provided by the NFF.
“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.”
The NFF concluded by dismissing the complaints and standing firm on their position that the problems experienced by the Libyan team were a result of their own actions.
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