The Senate has urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to probe the ill-treatment meted to the Super Eagles players and officials by the Libyan authorities in the 2025 AFCON qualifier against Libya.
By Naomi Sharang
The Senate has urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to probe the ill-treatment meted to the Super Eagles players and officials by the Libyan authorities in the 2025 AFCON qualifier against Libya.
This is sequel to a Point of Order raised by Sen. Sumaila Kawu (NNPP-Kano) during plenary on Tuesday.
The motion is titled ” Ill-Treatment of the Libyan Authorities and Football Federation at the Al-Abraq Airport, Libya”
The upper chamber urged the Federal Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to bring the issue to the attention of the Libyan government.
The senate urged the government to exercise restraint because the action has negative diplomatic consequences.
The Senate equally condemned in its entirety, the action of the Libyan authorities for these unwarranted hostilities and unfair treatment meted out to the Nigerian Super Eagles.
The senate also commended the Ministry of Sports and the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) for their prompt response and action by facilitating the safe return of the players, because they were no longer in the right frame of mind to go ahead with the scheduled match.
Moving the motion, Kawu, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Sports, noted with dismay the ill-treatment meted out to a contingent of the Nigerian Super Eagles in Libya on Sunday, Oct. 13.
He said that the ignoble act was reminiscent of “clandestine conspiracy and antic, intentionally orchestrated to frustrate visiting team in order to weaken their morale and dampen their spirits to the advantage of host country.
“The Embassy of Nigeria in Tripoli made arrangements with the authorities in Benghazi to welcome the Nigerian delegation, prior to their arrival, but their application was allegedly and outrightly rejected.
“As the authorities had already concluded the premeditation to frustrate our team ahead of the scheduled match.”
In his remarks, Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, who presided over the plenary, said that what happened to the Super Eagles in Libya was not in tandem with the spirit of sportsmanship.
“The essence of sports is to promote unity and competition and enhance brotherhood among the countries on the continent. The way our players were treated is terrible and condemnable.
“We think this is a mistake that the Libyan authorities should be given a chance to correct and apologise to the Nigerian government.
“Nigeria is a big country in Africa. We always lead in terms of diplomacy, friendship and everything.
“We call on the ambassador and other concerned authorities to come out and apologise for what they did to our national team”.(NAN)
