By Fortune Abang
THE FEDERAL government has refuted a report which claimed that Nigeria had apologised over the recent maltreatment of Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) officials and its senior national football team in Libya.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, made this known in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by Alkasim Abdulkadir, his Special Assistant on Media and Communication Strategy.
It stressed that the report, which was published on October 15 by the Libya Observer claiming that Nigeria had apologised over the incident was erroneous.
The statement added that the minister also expressed the Federal Government’s strong displeasure over the incident and the said report.
According to Tuggar, the report deliberately aims at gaining political leverage and causing disaffection among continental football administrators and fans.
It quoted the minister as saying that the report was a blatant misinformation and misrepresentation of the telephone correspondence between him and the Foreign Minister of Libya’s Eastern Government.
“Nigeria remains unequivocal in expressing its displeasure and disappointment with how the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) officials were treated in Libya.
“It calls on the Confederation of African Football to urgently ensure that its Disciplinary Board investigates the matter and imposes appropriate sanctions based on its statutes,” Tuggar said.
The minister further explained that the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) of Libya’s Government of National Unity had been summoned by the Ministry to seek an immediate end to the unfortunate incident.
It said that no diplomatic headway was made during the meeting with Libya’s acting Charge d’Affaires, Imad Aboud, who said the matter was not under the jurisdiction of Tripoli, which he represented.
It said that Aboud claimed that the matter was rather under the jurisdiction of Libya’s Eastern Government in Benghazi.
The statement further said that Tuggar immediately contacted Abdelhadi Lahweej, the Foreign Minister of the Eastern Government, for prompt intervention in order to end the debacle.
“After that, the aircraft was given the necessary permits to fly, aviation fuel was accessed, and both ministers agreed that the matter should be de-escalated immediately.
“Even when Lahweej insisted on rehashing untruth about the treatment of Libyan players in Nigeria, Tuggar once again corrected the misinformation about mistreatment of Libyan players during the Nigerian encounter.
“He did not apologise or regret the treatment of Libyan officials and players because the account was inaccurate,” the minister was quoted as saying.
“Lahweej proposed a joint statement, which the Ministry rejected because it erroneously misrepresented the facts of the incident.
“Above all, Nigeria only shares a diplomatic relationship with the government of National Accord and not with the Eastern Government,” the statement added. (NAN)
