By Kayode John
An official of the Libyan Football Federation has threatened a lawsuit against Tunisian pilot Abdellatif Merchergui over his damning testimony to the disciplinary committee of the Confederation of African Football, regarding the Libya-Nigeria fiasco in the recent 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
Merchergui was the pilot of the ValueJet plane which the Super Eagles flew in to Libya for the return leg of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying double-header in Benghazi on October 13.
However, the Libyan authorities redirected the plane to a remote airport in Al Abraq, about three hours drive from Benghazi. The team was locked up at the airport about 18 hours without food, water or access to the internet.
The NFF filed an official complaint to CAF, leading to the postponement of the game and an investigation into the incident. The football body asked Nigeria and Libya to submit documents to back their arguments of mistreatment, after the Mediterranean Knights claimed they were subjected to a worse inhumane treatment in Nigeria during the first leg.
According to Akhbar Libya 24 on Friday, part of the evidence Nigeria submitted to CAF is the statement of the pilot.
After the Super Eagles boycotted the match and returned to Nigeria, Merchergui explained in a video that the Libyan aviation authority had cleared him to land in Benghazi but he was later told to divert the plane to Al Abraq against the flight plan, on the order of a “higher authority”.
He revealed that the lives of everyone on board the plane was at risk, as there was no consideration whether there was sufficient fuel for the additional 150 miles journey. The captain also berated the state of facilities at the Al Abraq airport.
According to Akhbar Libya 24, executive member of the LFF, Abdul Hakim Al-Shalmani, during a press conference, described the claims by Merchergui as “false and slanderous.”
Al-Shalmani had attended a zoom meeting with the CAF’s disciplinary committee to represent the LFF and present their own evidences.
The newspaper said Al-Shalmani vowed that the “false testimony” from the pilot would not go without “legal follow-up, and an official memorandum of complaint will be filed against the Tunisian pilot”, who the LFF official claimed “violated the rules of integrity and honesty.”
Al-Shalmani said Nigeria exploited the fame of its professional players in international leagues to create the impression that they were victims of Libyan conspiracies.
“What the Nigerians are trying to portray as injustice on our part is in fact an attempt to cover up the truth, as the testimony presented was completely false,” he was quoted as saying.
The football official lamented that Nigeria was represented in the case by more than 20 people, including the “Minister of Sports, members of the Nigerian Parliament, and other prominent figures”, while on the other hand, no Libyan football official apart from him showed up.
“While I was representing Libya alone, this issue was supposed to be an opportunity to unite ranks and support the homeland. It is unreasonable for me to address the responsible authorities, individually without having an official position that would enable me to do so,” he added.
“This is an issue that affects Libya’s dignity and sporting reputation, and requires everyone’s intervention.”
