Al Ittihad of Libya will fly directly from Tripoli to Uyo today (Thursday) courtesy of a private jet that has been put at the disposal of the club by shareholders from the oil-rich country of Libya.
An advance party led by Mr. Abushawashi Snoussi that arrived Lagos last Tuesday aboard Royal Air Maroc and departed for Uyo same day via Dana Air confirmed that the team was going to fly into Uyo with a chartered flight.
“The initial problem is that we had applied to land in Uyo, but we were told that with Uyo yet to be granted international status, we will be permitted to land in Port Harcourt and drive down.
But plans are afoot to make AL Ittihad land in Uyo, since teams like Algeria and South Africa have had to land there before from Algiers and Jo’Burg respectively” Mr. Snoussi said.
The Libyan was also spotted in the five star Le Meridien Hotel and Golf resort where he had made reservations for his team, after deciding that “. . . all the other hotels in town were not good enough. . .” for his team.
An impressed staff of Le Meridien Hotel said “this is how it should be. In Nigeria, we have not yet started. See? A common club-side and they want us to compete favourably?”
He was however quick to add that he was convinced despite the show of wealth and good organization, Akwa United was going to beat them and qualify for the next round of the CAF Confederation Cup. “Anyway, we will beat them” He concluded.
Akwa United need two unreplied goals on Sunday to progress to the next round after losing to an 83rd-minute strike in the first leg match played in Sfax Tunisia on Wednesday, March 7, 2018.
