The Federal government of Nigeria has dismissed reports that it apologized to Libya for mistreating the Super Eagles when they visited the North African country for a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification.
This comes after The Libya Observer published an article on Tuesday claiming that their country had received an apology over the Super Eagles incident.
However, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, has refuted such reports.
Tuggar’s Special Assistant on Media and Communication Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir, issued a statement on Wednesday describing the report as an intentional attempt to gain political power and mislead football administrators and fans across Africa.
According to him, the newspaper twisted the specifics of a phone discussion he had with Abdelhadi Lahweej, Libya’s Eastern-based foreign minister over the Super Eagles incident.
The statement reads:
“The fact of the matter was that the CDA of the Government of National Unity was summoned to the Ministry to seek an immediate end to the (Super Eagles) unfortunate incident.
“However, not much diplomatic headway was made during the meeting with the Acting Charge of Affairs, Imad Mohammed Matooq Aboud, as they insisted that it was not under the jurisdiction of Tripoli, which they represented but that of the Eastern Government in Benghazi.
“This prompted the Minister to take immediate action by contacting the Foreign Minister of the Eastern Government, Abdelhadi Lahweej, to intervene and ensure that the detention ended.”
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cc: Daily Post Ng
