Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s foreign minister, has denied reports that his nation apologized to Libya for the Super Eagles’ recent captivity in Benghazi.
This correction comes after The Libya Observer published an article on Tuesday that made the untrue assertion that Nigeria has issued an apology for the event.
Tuggar characterized the research as a purposeful attempt to get political leverage and deceive football administrators and supporters throughout Africa in a statement issued on Wednesday by Alkasim Abdulkadir, the minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Communication Strategy.
The minister claims that the publication misrepresented the contents of a phone conversation he had with Abdelhadi Lahweej, the foreign minister of Libya, who is headquartered in the east.
He emphasized that instead of apologizing, the Nigerian government voiced its displeasure with the way its national team was treated and called for an expedient settlement.
In actuality, the Government of National Unity’s CDA was called to the Ministry to request an immediate resolution to the regrettable event.
However, they argued that it was under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Government in Benghazi, not Tripoli, which they represented, thus no diplomatic progress was made during the discussion with Imad Mohammed Matooq Aboud, the Acting Charge of Affairs.
The statement said, “This prompted the Minister to take immediate action by contacting Abdelhadi Lahweej, the Eastern Government’s Foreign Minister, to intervene and ensure that the detention ended.”
According to Tuggar, he then went straight to the Benghazi administration in the East to step in and help. Following discussions, the situation was de-escalated and the Super Eagles were able to depart Libya when the required licenses were issued.
“After that, aviation fuel was accessed and the aircraft was granted the required permits to fly,” it continued. The two ministers concurred that the situation needed to be defused right away. Amb Tuggar once again rectified the false information on the abuse of Libyan players during the Nigerian match, notwithstanding Lahweej’s insistence on repeating the untruth.
The minister also refuted Lahweej’s bogus accusations that Libyan players were mistreated in Nigeria, correcting the record but declining to issue an apology for any wrongdoing because the accusations were untrue.
He disclosed that although Lahweej proposed a joint statement on the subject, Nigeria turned it down due to its misrepresentation of the incident’s facts.
According to the reports, the Nigerian squad was treated cruelly when they arrived in Libya on Sunday afternoon after flying in for the second leg of their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualification Group D match against the Mediterranean Knights.
For more than twenty hours, the Nigerian contingent was closed off from the outside world and kept in a cage at the airport without food or water.
According to the Confederation of African Football, the matter is being looked into.
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