From Sunday to Monday, players and officials of Nigeria’s Super Eagles were held hostage at the Al Abraq Airport in Al Abraq, Libya by Libyan authorities upon their arrival in the country ahead of Tuesday’s 2025 AFCON qualifying Group D clash with the Mediterranean Knights.
After Nigerian contingent was stranded for over 20 hours without food or water and completely shut out of the world, the Super Eagles and officials have to return home without the game.
Nigeria had flown into Libya on Sunday afternoon in a quest for a return match, but were diverted to the Al Abraq Airport, which is over 200 km and three and a half hours drive away from the planned camp site instead of Benghazi Airport, their original destination.
According to the account, it all started when the Libyan authorities abruptly refused to supply jet fuel to ValueJet, the official carrier for the Super Eagles, culminating in the Nigerian team being stranded.
Reasons for the fuel embargo remain unclear, but it sparked outrage among Nigerians as well as the international community, which viewed the situation as an unnecessary obstruction to the national team’s plans for the game that was eventually abandoned.
A disturbing video posted by the Eagles media team shows the players and officials, along with their luggage, were left stranded at the airport, with the Libyan airport officials indifferent to their plight and conversing in Arabic.