Nigeria’s Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, has raised serious concerns about the competence and decision-making of top officials at the Confederation of African Football CAF, Soccernet.ng reports.
This follows the appalling treatment the Super Eagles received in Libya, where they were scheduled to play an Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying match against the Mediterranean Knights.
The Nigerian team, along with its officials, were “held hostage” at an abandoned airport in Al-Abraq after their flight was diverted from its original destination in Benghazi.
Exhausted and dehydrated after spending 15 hours without food, water, or internet access, the Super Eagles decided to withdraw from the match against Libya.
On their return to Nigeria, CAF announced it would investigate the situation and take appropriate action.
However, Senator Enoh expressed disappointment, stating that the entire episode could have been avoided if the CAF had acted more diligently.
The Sports Minister revealed that, during an earlier conversation with CAF President Patrice Motsepe and the organization’s Secretary General, he had questioned why CAF had not immediately contacted Libyan authorities when the situation first unfolded.
Enoh drew a comparison to a previous incident when South Africa made a logistical error during a trip to Nigeria for a match in Uyo.
The South African contingent, just like their Libyan counterpart last week, had flown to Port Harcourt instead of directly to Uyo, leaving the Nigeria Football Federation scrambling to make alternative logistic plans.
On that occasion, South Africa-born Motsepe and his Secretary General swiftly intervened, putting pressure on the NFF to resolve the issue.
Enoh was troubled by the contrast in responses, noting that CAF acted decisively to assist South Africa but left Nigeria stranded in Libya with no immediate intervention.
“At some point, we also had some little issue with the South African team,” Enoh explained in an interview with Channels TV. “Again, not created by Nigeria but because of their insistence to prefer to land in Port Harcourt. This may be a different subject matter: Why would teams prefer to do that than fly straight to Uyo? Different subject matter.
“But I called the attention of CAF yesterday morning to the fact that when that happened and the NFF was even on the ground to sort out whatever logistics, CAF secretary general didn’t allow the (NFF) president one minute, it was continuous contact and pressure and all of that. And how come (that was not the case for Nigeria)?”
He continued:
“As of yesterday morning, it was already about 12, 13 hours (of the Nigerian delegation in Libya). I said, how come? 13 hours after our team is so subjected, there is no indication that CAF is in direct communication with the Libyan Football Federation.”
Senator Enoh also criticised CAF’s decision to allow Libya to host AFCON qualifiers despite the country’s ongoing political turmoil.
He speculated that even if CAF had tried to contact Libyan authorities, they might not have known which of the two factional governments to approach.
“It seems to me that the CAF president may not have known which (Libyan) authority to speak to,” Enoh said.
“It calls to question therefore, if there are such two authorities in Libya, does Libya offer a good environment, condition, and situation for international matches of this nature to be hosted in the country.”
CAF has yet to release its findings on the incident, and it remains unclear whether sanctions will be imposed on Libya, Nigeria, or both, depending on the investigation’s outcome.
This post was last modified on October 16, 2024 11:33 am
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Of course there is a South African bias. Which makes it all the more befuddling that Gusau would be campaigning for the re-election of Patrice Motsepe (South African born CAF president). The Secretary General, Véron Mosengo-Omba from the Congo, I believe, and is currently under investigation for fraud and money laundering. Motsepe and his lap-dog Mosengo-Omba are both corrupt to the core and have essentially worked to destroy the West African Football Union (WAFU) since they were elected. They are both stooges of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who is basically the Don of the crime syndicate that currently runs international football. Motsepe hates Nigeria to the bone and the unfortunate thing is that the worst enemies of our football are his lackeys (Pinnick and Gusau). Motsepe owns Mamelodi Sundowns and has consistently used undue influence as CAF President to try to mitigate the fortunes of both Sundowns and the Bafana Bafana (Bafana Bafana comprises majority of Sundowns’ players). Our players were basically kidnapped and their lives were endangered in a very unsafe country, and CAF did absolutely nothing until the social media wave created a global shame on their incompetence. Nigeria must work to remove this man from CAF. We need to start playing dirty politics as needed within our sphere of operation, Africa!
idiot,Motsepe doesn't need your poor money.He is financing and just helping poor corrupt black people like you.
you said it all my brother,
Caf is a corrupt organization,
and it pains me that Nigeria don't know how to play dirty game internationally,
but Play very dirty one locally,
I'm even wondering why no Nigerian has ever been Caf president upon our record in African football.
All south Africans are haters of Nigeria.
their plan is for Libya to get a Walk over
but it will not work out for them.
I have been saying it that Patrice Motsepe is working to destroy WAFU and elevate COSAFA and CECAFA. And Amaju Pinnick and Ibrahim Gusau are not intelligent enough to understand and play the politics of the game the way Amos Adamu used to do. We need an NFF president and a CAF representative who are not afraid to look the corrupt CAF president in the eye and tell them that they're wrong when they're wrong! I'm sure that Motsepe would have thought about deducting points from Nigeria for boycotting the game, but for the social media storm it generated around the world, which would have made him look terrible in the eyes of the football world.
iIs CAF not operating as organization in deleang with such matterss , we cannot put blame on one person here , but whatever happened is bad for football.