ABUJA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua/GNA) — The Nigerian Foreign Ministry on Monday, summoned Libya’s charge d’affaires, after Nigeria’s national football team was allegedly stranded at a Libyan airport for over 12 hours.
The Super Eagles, Nigeria’s national football team, arrived in Libya on Sunday for the second leg of the 2025 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, after beating Libya’s national football team 1-0 in the southern Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom on Friday.
The Nigerian side said the team’s chartered jet earlier scheduled to land in Benghazi, was suddenly rerouted to Al Abraq International Airport, an airport serving the eastern Libyan city of Bayda, and players were left stranded there for hours. “Unfortunately, at that airport (in Libya), there is no aviation fuel…We will not be able to allow them to continue,” Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar told reporters Monday in Abuja, the capital.
The Nigerian football team and staff had been instructed to pull out of the qualifying match after they were left stranded without food and water, according to Tuggar.
In a separate statement posted on X, Super Eagles Captain William Troost-Ekong said the team was frustrated and exhausted due to the “intolerable condition” and they have decided to boycott the qualifier, supported by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
An NFF official told Xinhua over the phone that an arrangement had been made for the team to be airlifted back to Nigeria amid growing concerns over their well-being and safety.
GNA
