Odunayaw:
I gasped when he started insinuating NFF and/or state governments should have foot the bill of the Libyan team from PH

Further slapping "stranded" on a people who instead of directly flying to Uyo, went to PH

Man

TheGoodJoe:


It might seem ridiculous but I do not expect that we are making such a trip without contingency plans and full background information. Sorry but I don't think it should work that way.

Not having full contacts of the government officials that would be hosting our players shows lapses in Protocol process.

Tessyy1701:


You are right, this insensitivity from NFF must stop. Henceforth money should be set aside for visiting team for their flight or We send a jet to convey them two days to match day.

lovewins:


Because we are not supposed to. We are going for a football game and not war. Maybe this would make sense in a tournament situation, but this was supposed to be a 32 hour timeline event. What you're asking then to do us simply overboard.

TheGoodJoe:
20 Points of a 20-hour ordeal on Libyan soil Pt. 2

NFF Media
October 14, 2024

11) At past midnight, it was learnt that there had been word from ‘higher authorities’ (Libya is a jurisdiction governed by two different administrations – a UN-recognized cabinet in Tripoli and a self-imposed team over Eastern Libya including places like Benghazi and Labraq) that the Nigeria delegation should be delayed for minimum of 10 hours at the airport for what they falsely claimed was done to their team in Nigeria. (All conversations between the NFF General Secretary and the LFF General Secretary on the match in Uyo, both written text and voices notes, are still in the NFF General Secretary’s phone)

12) The NFF team was shocked because the incident referred to in Nigeria was entirely generated by the Libyans. They informed the NFF that their contingent would be landing in Port Harcourt, and not Uyo, only two hours to the team’s arrival in Nigeria. Despite this, the NFF moved swiftly to get authorities to grant their aircraft movement permit from Port Harcourt to Uyo, but this was jettisoned as the LFF apparently did not cherish the additional fee dispatched by the charter company. They opted to travel by road, refused to use the buses hired by the NFF and instead hired their own, and disrespected advice not to travel by night. When they stuck to their guns to move by night, the NFF provided security. The NFF even provided the team training facility the day after the match and secured direct flight permit from Uyo to Benghazi for the delegation.

13) Infuriated, the NFF President reacted: “We anticipated some shocks here given the false account of what happened in Nigeria as narrated by their team captain. But we did not expect these shenanigans. What I am seeing is despicable and has no place in the game of football which is meant to foster excellent relationships among nations and bring peoples from diverse cultures, religious persuasions and economic and political interests together in an ambience of peace and joy.”

14) The NFF learnt that the Embassy of Nigeria in Tripoli had written, a fortnight earlier, to the authorities in Benghazi that they would want to welcome the Nigeria delegation on arrival. This application was said to have been rejected outright.

15) In a conscious effort to play down their frustration, anger and hunger, players and officials resorted to playing games, listening to music, chatting themselves up, scanning through the airport exit door to see if any vehicles had arrived, and generally looked forward to daybreak, which they hoped would bring much-sought-after relief.

16) Many calls were made to higher authorities in Nigeria to apprise them of the situation, and these persons all expressed fears for the safety and security of the team. These fears were real and justified given the plethora of threats thrown by the Libyans on legacy and social media in the days before and after the match in Uyo. At 2am, Captain William Ekong met the NFF President in the company of the NFF General Secretary to inform the President that the team may not be able to go ahead with the match, due to trauma, fatigue and body aches that resulted from lack of food, dehydration and very cruel and unimaginable treatment, which had led to some players falling ill.

17) The NFF repeated calls to officials of the Confederation of African Football, Nigeria’s FIFA Council Member Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick and higher authorities in Nigeria. It dispatched a letter to CAF in which it detailed the antics of the hosts and hoped that the continental governing body would go ahead to “punish this rare bestiality visited on the beautiful game.” It noted that the Super Eagles had traveled hoping to enjoy a great game of football but had been sorely disappointed and frustrated by the unprecedented level of hostility and poor attitude of the hosts.

18) At daybreak, Mr. Maurice Eromosele, president of the Nigerian community in Eastern Libya, arrived with words of empathy from the Ambassador of Nigeria to Libya, His Excellency Alhaji Muhammad Muhammad. He expressed shock at the treatment meted out to the Nigeria delegation, who were made to spend the entire night inside the departure lounge of the Al-Abraq Airport. He said His Excellency ordered him to get a few things for the team, and he later returned with plastic bags loaded with croissants and drinks. These served as breakfast for the team.

19) More calls were made and eventually, it was agreed by all parties that the team should not go ahead with the match, but return to Nigeria to await the decision of CAF (who were briefed in detail on the situation) with regards to the un-played match.

20) After spending many more hours waiting for the Al-Abraq airport authorities to sell fuel to refill the chartered ValueJet aircraft (which was initially proving to be some sort of robotic engineering), the Nigeria delegation departed the Al-Abraq Airport (not worth the toga of ‘international’ by any scale) at exactly 15.05hours, bound for the city of Kano, and onwards to the Federal Capital, Abuja.

TheGoodJoe:
20 Points of a 20-hour ordeal on Libyan soil Pt. 2

NFF Media
October 14, 2024

.

M7even:


We have all seen this like two days ago. Was it because you hadn't seen it yet that made you choose to make us cringe at your thoughts and opinions on the NFF

M7even:


We have all seen this like two days ago. Was it because you hadn't seen it yet that made you choose to make us cringe at your thoughts and opinions on the NFF

Toylove:

Apparently, there’s just a slight difference between thegoodjoe and komekn. The slight difference is that thegoodjoe sabi small tactics, komekn sabi nada. Apart from that, they are bunch of the same feathers who knows how to twist and turn with no end product like chidera ejuke

Amedino99:
it's sarcasm oga humility.

TheGoodJoe:
20 Points of a 20-hour ordeal on Libyan soil Pt. 1

NFF Media
October 14, 2024

NFF’s Director of Communications, Dr Ademola Olajire, provides a point-by-point account of how a keenly-anticipated Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match was relegated to a fiasco by Libyan federal authorities and Football Federation

1) The chartered ValueJet aircraft departed from the Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo at 11.55hours on Sunday, 13th October 2024, and landed at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano at 13.10hours, for the completion of immigration formalities and for the aircraft to refuel.

2) The aircraft took off from Kano at 15.18hours, for the 3 hours and 35 minutes flight to Benghazi, Libya, expecting to arrive a few minutes before 8pm Libya time.

3) Just as he was about to commence his initial approach into Benghazi, the captain (pilot) was instructed by the control tower that he could not land in Benghazi (despite having all the required landing papers and having completed all formalities before leaving Uyo and later, Kano, but should proceed to the Al-Abraq International Airport, even though the airport lacked the control navigators for landing at such hours. He complained that he was short on fuel but his words fell on deaf ears as he was told in stern manner that the directive was from ‘higher authorities.’

4) On landing at the Al-Abraq International Airport, in the small town of Labraq, at 19.50hours, it was clear that the airport was not a well-utilized facility. There were no scanning machines or the usual equipment for this service, and officials had to make do with mobile phones to scan passport data pages.

5) The delegation, which included 22 players and team officials; NFF President Alh. Ibrahim Musa Gusau; Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu; a couple of NFF Board members; NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi; a couple of parliamentarians; a couple of NFF Management; a couple of media representatives and; a couple of stakeholders, was shown scant respect by the airport authorities who applied curt manners and stern tones.

6) It took over one hour for the team’s luggage to roll through the carousel, despite the fact that the bags and other items had already been hauled from the aircraft immediately on arrival.

7) No official of the Libyan Football Federation was at the airport to receive the delegation, as is the best practice globally. Airport officials could not answer the simple question on where the buses that would take the delegation members back to Benghazi (where the NFF had booked hotel rooms) were.

8.) When delegation members including the NFF President, Comrade Shaibu and Dr Sanusi attempted to venture outside the airport to ascertain if there were vehicles waiting for the team, they were stopped in the most uncouth of manners by airport security personnel.

9) Calls to the General Secretary of LFF, Mr. Abdul-Nasser by Dr Sanusi yielded no fruits as the former kept promising that the buses would arrive in ‘10 minutes’, which later became ‘two hours’, and afterwards, ‘three hours.’ Later in the evening, it was no longer possible to reach him on phone. Frustrated by this attitude, Dr Sanusi approached the security operatives to request that the team be allowed to go out and board the buses the NFF eventually hired. This request was rejected with insults. It took the intervention of the NFF dignitaries to prevent what would have escalated into a row as the NFF President himself was not spared when he heard exchange of voices between the security personnel and his General Secretary. This aggravated the tension and further frustrated the team.

10) Hour after hour, and with mounting frustration, delegation members, particularly the players, grew restless. There was no food or water provided by the LFF, or where to even procure these items, and there was no network or internet connection at the airport. These swiftly increased the level of frustration and anger.

https://thenff.com/20-points-of-a-20-hour-ordeal-on-libyan-soil/

Very Amazing work by the NFF. As I wanted clarifying issues.

Goke7:


I will even suggest a jet from the presidential fleet sef, make we pepper dem gang.

Their father!

semid4lyfe:
The fact that Ahmed Musa is running rings round players of opposition teams in the NPFL, scoring goals for fun and winning MVP in matches is crazy.

It's either Ahmed Musa is still a top quality player

Or

There's a dearth of quality players in the NPFL.

lbrichman2:


Its merely a tame attempt at cover face
He's beginning to realize how ridiculous he's been all this while, so he dey try do clean up lowkey

AndSunGorilla:

Someone had insinuated that the the Libyans were not cleared to land at Uyo directly because Uyo is not an international Airport hence the reason they had to land at PH. Is there any truth to that?

Odunayaw:
The USMNT comes into Nigeria to play a match, we reroute them to Maiduguri and lock the team with the USSF president and the deputy governor of Alabama in the airport for 15 hours. Also frustrate staffs of the Department of State trying to reach them.

Think on that scenario and imagine the response of the US.

make una de deceive unasef with this faux cool heads mantra

JohnBullMySon:


NCAA gives two types of permit to non-scheduled flights arriving to or transiting through Nigeria. First is the overflight permit, second is the landing permit. Now for a non-scheduled flight to land in Nigeria, there are five options, Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, PH and Kano. These are the five designated points of entry aka Int'l airports approved with full services in Nigeria.

Now if for some reason you have to land at some other place besides these points of entry, you will have to get a special permit from NCAA. Before NCAA can give you that permit, you will have to write to federal agencies specifically, Immigration Service, Customs and DSS. These agencies will give you approval and confirm to NCAA that they will provide the required clearances and checks needed once you arrive. If that approval is not gotten, NCAA will not approve the request. (side note: Keyamo once noted that some people in government have been abusing this process cos this is Naija na).

Now back to the NFF story. If the charter airline that flew the libyan team could not secure a landing permit for Uyo from NCAA, it means that whoever was responsible to make those arrangements ahead of time. Simply failed to do it

semid4lyfe:


I disagree that Nigeria did something similar to Libya.

Uyo was approved by CAF as venue for our AFCON qualifiers and it had been known months ahead that the match was going to be played there.

If the Libyan Football Federation chartered a plane to bring their team to Port Harcourt knowing fully well that the match was to be played in Uyo, it's on them.

Its that simple in my opinion.

In the botched return leg, the NFF chartered a plane that was heading directly to Benghazi the city where the match was to hold but the Libyan authorities diverted our plane (when it was already in Benghazi and about to descend) to a different location.

The cases are not similar.

Libya landed in Port Harcourt by their own doing and choice.

Nigeria was (deliberately and maliciously) diverted. The Libyan FF have admitted this in their Press release.

Libya's chartered plane landed in its original planned destination of Port Harcourt. Nigeria's chartered plane was diverted from its original planned destination of Benghazi to somewhere else.

For me, that's the koko and all that matters.

The action taken by Libya to land in Port Harcourt was premeditated so it could be used as an excuse to subject the Nigerian team to the "reciprocal" maltreatment they meted out.

Libya did this knowing fully well that they couldn't beat Nigeria fairly on the field of play. They were probably hoping that our team would be too distressed & fatigued to play well so it'd be easier for them to win or they walk over us if we don't make it to the match and get awarded 3 points and 3 goals.

It was a good plan but in all their scheming, the Libyan FF made a costly error that caused everything to boomerang, and that was not blocking communication channels and internet access cos Nigeria effectively used her social media might to launch an info-war that subsumed them.

After all said and done, Libya's plan backfired on them spectacularly.

Goke7:
[/b]

Is that not why the Libya FA should have informed the nff of their schedule way ahead of time? You have finally indicted the Libyan delegation

JohnBullMySon:


CAF Date and venue of the match has been public info for months now. What schedule does NFF need to be informed about?

Goke7:


Arrival schedule of the Libyans is that difficult to understand here?