Libyan Star Admits Guilt, Explains Why Super Eagles Were Held Hostage

Libyan Star Admits Guilt, Explains Why Super Eagles Were Held Hostage

  • The Super Eagles were held hostage for about 16 hours at Al Abraq International Airport in Libya
  • CAF postponed the match and referred the incident to its disciplinary committee for an investigation
  • A Libyan footballer has indited his country and explained why they treated the Nigerians that way

A Libyan footballer may have unknowingly indited his country of wrongdoings after they held the Super Eagles of Nigeria hostage at Al Abraq International Airport.

Nigerian players travelled to North Africa to honour the AFCON 2025 qualifier second leg match, but the game did not happen due to the inhumane incident.

Libyan players sitting on the floor at an airport in Nigeria.
Libyan players sitting on the floor at an airport in Nigeria. Photo from @Libyan_FF.
Source: Twitter

The team's flight, originally planned to land in Benghazi, was redirected to Al Abraq a few minutes before landing, where they were left unattended for almost a day.

Libyan star admits retaliation

Libyan footballer Moatasem Al-Musrati’s statement on the saga may have indited his country of wrongdoings in the Super Eagles' ordeal at Al Abraq.

Read also

Libyan official calls for strict measures after Super Eagles' airport ordeal

Al-Musrati released a statement on his Facebook page, explaining why the incident happened, a section of which confirmed that the Libyan's actions were intentional.

“The full truth of what happened is that this is a normal and logical result according to what had happened to the Libyan National team when they went to play the first leg match in Nigeria,” he wrote.
“Libyan players were held for hours in the Airport for no reason and then were thrown in malfunctioning busses. They were driven in those buses for three hours to arrive in an area with high military tension.”
"What happened here was a reaction to the horrible treatment that our players had to endure, nothing more!” he added.

The Besiktas star also accused the European media of bias, claiming they kept quiet on the Mediterranean Knights’s experience but let the Super Eagles stars' popularity influence them.

Read also

Odemwingie rubbishes Libya's reason for holding Super Eagles hostage

According to Score Nigeria, CAF's verdict on the incident is expected on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, when the organisation meets.

Libyan chief calls for harsh measures

Legit.ng reported that a Libyan football chief called for harsh measures against those responsible for mistreating the Super Eagles of Nigeria at Al Abraq Airport.

The former president of Al Dhahra Al-Siddiq Abu Dhabi called for internal prosecution over the incident, opposing the views held by many in the country.

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Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Elijah Odetokun avatar

Elijah Odetokun (Sports Editor) Elijah Odetokun is a Nigerian sports editor at Legit NG. He has four years of working experience having previously worked at Daily Times Nigeria (August 2020 - September 2020), OmaSports (December 2020 - June 2021), El Futbolero (July 2021; September 2021- November 2021), and Sports Brief (November 2022 - July 2024). He is a press conference and interview specialist and has attended trainings held by Reuters, AIPS, and FIJ. He holds a Bachelor of Agriculture (2021) from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. Reach me via elijah.odetokun@sportsbrief.com

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