(Bloomberg) -- Nigeria’s government summoned a senior Libyan diplomat to protest the treatment of its national football team during a trip to the North African country this week.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria had been scheduled to play Libya’s Mediterranean Knights in the northeastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday to seal their qualification for next year’s African Cup of Nations tournament. The team pulled out of the match and returned home on Monday after being stranded at an airport in Labraq, almost 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the venue.
The incident prompted a response by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who said in a statement that he was “deeply moved by the inhuman treatment endured” by the team.
The Eagles squad was deprived of food and water and had no internet access during their almost 20-hour stay at the airport in Labraq, the Nigerian Football Federation said in a statement detailing the incident. There was no contact from Libyan Football Federation officials during the “ordeal,” it said.
“Hour after hour, and with mounting frustration, delegation members, particularly the players, grew restless,” the federation said. The Nigerian delegation later learned there had been “word from higher authorities” in Libya that the Eagles should be delayed at the airport as a tit-for-tat for the “falsely claimed” mistreatment of the Libyan team at the first-leg match in Nigeria last week.
The Libyan Football Federation said Nigeria was to blame for delaying the match in Benghazi, and that the incident in Labraq wasn’t deliberate. It posted a video statement on X stating that its team faced “challenging circumstances” prior to the match last week.
The Confederation of African Football said it’s contacting the authorities in the two OPEC-member states, which rank among the continent’s biggest oil producers, and “appropriate action” will be taken after investigation.
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