By Ed Malik, A | ed@ddnewsonline.com | posted Ocotober 10, 2024
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied accusations made by Faisal Al-Badri, the captain of Libya’s senior men’s football team, regarding poor treatment upon the team’s arrival in Nigeria.
NFF clarified that any confusion experienced by the Libyan team, the Mediterranean Knights, was caused by the Libyan Football Federation itself.
According to Mr. Emmanuel Ayanbunmi, the NFF’s Assistant Director (Protocol), the Libyan Federation notified the NFF just three hours before the team’s arrival, and they indicated Port Harcourt as their landing location, instead of Uyo, the designated city.
This last-minute change created logistical challenges for the NFF, but Ayanbunmi emphasized that the Libyan Federation was responsible for the confusion, not the NFF.
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“I spoke to the General Secretary of LFF, at length, on Monday, 7th October and he never hinted that his team would be arriving on Tuesday (the following day). He only said he would get back to me but he never did. On Monday evening, someone sent as an advance party by the LFF called me and said his team would be arriving on Tuesday by noon. We made all arrangements to receive the team in Uyo on arrival.
“It was only an hour after the team was airborne that he told me the delegation would be landing in Port Harcourt. That disrupted so many things, but we still raced on hurdles to get approval from federal authorities to allow their plane to fly them to Uyo once they concluded immigration formalities in Port Harcourt. Apparently, that would have meant additional cost to the LFF from the charter company, and they didn’t want that, so they preferred to travel from Port Harcourt to Uyo by road.”
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Ayanbunmi added that the Libyan delegation jettisoned road transportation arrangements made for them by the NFF and instead hired buses on their own.
“If they travelled on buses that were not air-conditioned, that had nothing to do with the NFF as they hired their own buses. We provided security for them, with men and vehicles in front and behind their buses, so we are unmoved about their complaints and threats.”