Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed claims that it apologized to Libya over the Super Eagles hostage situation at the Al Abraq Airport.
The allegations, published by Libya Observer, were firmly denied by the Minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Communication Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir.
Speaking to Brila Media, Abdulkadir made it clear that no apology was offered to Libya.
“There was no apology, no regrets were expressed because we had no reason to,” Abdulkadir stated. “In fact, its our players who suffered indignity.”
He went on to clarify that, the misunderstanding stemmed from a phone conversation with Libya’s East-based government.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar. Photo | Arise
“We had a conversation with the Libyan ambassador and asked for a speedy resolution.
“However, the Government of National Accord in Libya, which has a representative in Abuja, informed us that the plane had landed at Al-Abraq airport, which was under the jurisdiction of the Eastern government.”
Super Eagles Players at the Airport.
“Despite our pleas, they said there was nothing they could do because they had no diplomatic relations with that region.
“So we now have to use back channel resources to be able to get across to the Eastern government.”
Abdulkadir noted that the illegitimacy of Libya’s Eastern government made negotiations tough.
“We had a long conversation, and one thing struck out, they still insisted that Libyan footballers were mistreated in Nigeria, which was contrary to all the information available at our disposal.
“As such, we had to correct that impression – to the best of our knowledge there was no mistreatment. It was a case of miscommunication – logistics and all of that.”
“Having said that, we now went ahead to try and de-escalate the situation, asking them to release the aircraft, and permission to fly to Abuja.”
“There was request for access to aviation fuel, because in the beginning the reports we had was they were even refusing us aviation fuel.”
Abdulkadir further explained that the Eastern government sought to use the situation to gain global legitimacy by requesting joint press releases.
“They asked that we should do a pic-mix of their foreign minister and our minister in all our press releases, that’s one.
“Also, they wrote a joint statement mentioning the word ‘regret and apology’, for the way Libyans were treated in Nigeria, to which we declined.
“We refused to sign off on the joint statement and also refused to post the picture of their foreign minister and ours together.”
Abdulkadir also revealed no official complaints from Libya about the treatment to their team.
“There’s been no official complaint, either by diplomatic means or otherwise. We only saw that through their actions and words.”
“But, everything is in the hands of CAF now; its disciplinary board, it has its statutes. You know it’s a long-standing organization so all eyes are on them.”
