Nigerian minister of foreign affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, has denied that Nigeria apologized to the Libyan government over the detention fiasco of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, stressing that information regarding the incident was misrepresented.
A statement issued on Wednesday by Alkasim Abdulkadir, Special Assistant on Media and Communication Strategy to the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that on October 15, 2024, the Libya Observer published an erroneous report to gain political leverage and cause disaffection amongst continental football administrators and fans.
The statement said “the publication by the Libya Observer, which misrepresents the phone correspondence between Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and the East-based Government’s Foreign Minister, is a clear case of misinformation.
“The fact of the matter was that the Charge D’ Affairs of the Government of National Unity was summoned to the Ministry to seek an immediate end to the unfortunate incident. However, not much diplomatic headway was made during the meeting with the Acting Charge of Affairs, Imad Mohammed Matooq Aboud, as they insisted that it was not under the jurisdiction of Tripoli, which they represented, but that of the Eastern Government in Benghazi.
“This prompted the Minister to take immediate action by contacting the Foreign Minister of the Eastern Government, Abdelhadi Lahweej, to intervene and ensure that the detention ended. After that, the aircraft was given the necessary permits to fly, and aviation fuel was accessed.
“Both Ministers agreed that the matter should be de-escalated immediately. Even when Lahweej insisted on rehashing the untruth about the treatment of Libyan players in Nigeria, Amb Tuggar once again corrected the misinformation about the mistreatment of Libyan players during the Nigerian encounter.
“He did not apologise or regret the treatment of Libyan officials and players because the account was inaccurate.”
The statement said further that Lahweej proposed a joint statement, which the Ministry rejected because it erroneously misrepresented the facts of the incident.
It noted that above all, the federal government of Nigeria only shares a diplomatic relationship with the government of the National Accord and not with the Eastern government.
“Nigeria remains unequivocal in expressing its displeasure and disappointment with how the Nigerian Football Federation officials were treated in Libya. It calls on the Confederation of African Football to urgently ensure that its Disciplinary Board investigates the matter and imposes appropriate sanctions based on its statutes,” the statement added.
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