By Ayooluwa Ayobami
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar has refuted claims pointing that Nigeria apologised to Libya over the recent detention of the Super Eagles in Benghazi.
The minister’s clarification comes amid reports from The Libya Observer, falsely claiming that Nigeria issued an apology to the Libyan authorities.
This was disclosed in a statement by the minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Communication Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir, on Wednesday.
Abdulkadir’s statement explained that the report misrepresented a phone call between Tuggar and Libya’s Eastern-based Foreign Minister, Abdelhadi Lahweej.
He clarified that instead of an apology, Nigeria expressed dissatisfaction with the treatment of its national team and called for a prompt resolution to the issue.
The statement reads: “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 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 CDA 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.
Lahweej proposed a joint statement, which the Ministry rejected because it erroneously misrepresented the facts of the incident. 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.”
Tuggar added that Nigeria remains incontrovertible in expressing its displeasure and disappointment with how the Nigerian Football Federation officials were treated in Libya.
He further called on the Confederation of African Football to urgently ensure that its Disciplinary Board investigates the matter and met out appropriate sanctions to the Libyan national team.
