Some moments ago I issued a statement in my capacity as sports development minister. Saying that the team is stranded is being mild about it. The situation that has faced them since yesterday can be described as a hostage situation. The team arrived in Libya at about 8 pm and if you check the time now they have been held up at the Al Abraq airport for more than 17 hours now. The airport wasn’t originally the airport of choice. They were forced to divert without regard to their safety and they have been held up there with no contact from any official of the Libyan football federation. The only contact that they have had has been with security officials of Libya at the airport who have cordoned off where they are staying and they have been restricted and they cannot leave the airport. Having said that, I think we have not been resting since yesterday. I’ve been in touch with every official of the government in our country, from the national security adviser to the DG of intelligence agency to the foreign affairs minister who himself has been in touch with aviation in Libya. Everything has been on, I’ve been in touch with the president of NFF. The airport they are holding them in doesn’t have internet facilities so you can’t even reach them. Our luck is that the team captain, William Troost-Ekong has a UK number that you can reach through a direct line and the team manager has a US number which you can also reach. These are the only two people I’ve been speaking with. Every time I call them I request to speak with the president. That’s the way we have been communicating. This morning I spoke to the owner of Valujet, the airline that airlifted them to Libya. He is as concerned. The most important for us for now is the safety of our senior national team and the safety of Nigerians who are part of that delegation. I think every effort is being made to see how they can return. This morning I was on a conference call with the president of CAF and I tried to implore them that they have to work with Nigeria to see that the most important thing is not to go and play a match tomorrow in which case nobody can guarantee their safety. I put it to CAF that if from yesterday for about 17 hours CAF hasn’t been able to communicate with the Libyan federation, why can they guarantee that the team is safe even if they were in a psychological state to still be in the match? As of the last time we spoke they were trying to see how they can get aviation fuel and most of the documentation off the airline had already been completed. My hope is that this kind of gory, unfortunate situation will be brought to an end. Having said that I’ve also put it to CAF that there must be an adverse consequence for the Libyan football federation and you cannot achieve that consequence by insisting that the match goes ahead otherwise you create a very dangerous precedent and then football that is considered as a unifying game will no longer be football anymore.
Nobody can question thy because the truth is that for people that have been held up for about 17 hours, for people that were made to stay in a mosquito infested area, for people that have been kept without water, with no food since yesterday, I mean there is nothing they will now say that we will not believe. I’ve already told you that I urge CAF that instead of having to see how they can make arrangements for the match to go on, I’d rather implore them to work with Nigeria and the Nigerian people and government to ensure that our players are safe and the team returns back to Nigeria. That’s what I’ve said so I agree with the team captain, I agree with the rest of the team.
We don’t expect that to happen. It will be a dangerous precedent. This morning when I spoke with the president of NFF I directed him that whereas they are all held up where they are; himself, the general secretary but they have a functional office in Nigeria and they office has to be briefed fully and they are to send a protest and a petition formally to CAF, this has to be done and seen to have been received by CAF before they leave libya and I believe that that is being done.
