The Federal Government of Nigeria has denied a report claiming that the country issued an apology regarding the recent mistreatment of officials from the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and its national football team during their visit to Libya.
This clarification was made by Foreign Affairs Minister Amb. Yusuf Tuggar in a statement released on Wednesday in Abuja through his Special Assistant, Alkasim Abdulkadir.
The minister emphasized that the report, published by the Libya Observer on October 15, was inaccurate.
He expressed strong discontent with both the incident and the misleading report, asserting that it appeared aimed at manipulating political sentiments and creating discord among football administrators and fans across Africa.
Tuggar characterized the report as "blatant misinformation" and a misrepresentation of his discussions with Libya's Eastern Government Foreign Minister, Abdelhadi Lahweej.
He reiterated Nigeria's firm stance against the treatment of NFF officials in Libya, calling for urgent action from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to investigate the matter and enforce appropriate sanctions.
The statement detailed that Tuggar had summoned members of Libya's Constitution Drafting Assembly to address the incident.
However, no diplomatic progress was made during a meeting with Libya's acting Charge d’Affaires, Imad Aboud, who stated that the issue fell under the jurisdiction of Libya’s Eastern Government rather than Tripoli.
In response to the situation, Tuggar contacted Lahweej for immediate intervention, which led to necessary flight permits being granted and aviation fuel being provided. Both ministers agreed on the need to de-escalate tensions surrounding the incident.
Despite Lahweej's attempts to revisit claims regarding the treatment of Libyan players in Nigeria, Tuggar refuted these assertions, noting that there was no basis for an apology regarding their treatment during a prior encounter.
