By Kayode John
The Tunisian pilot of the VaueJet plane who flew the Super Eagles of Nigeria team to and from Libya for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers has made some startling revelations.
He explained that the diversion of the flight from Benghazi to Al Abraq airport constituted a huge risk to the safety of the crew and passengers on board.
The flight carrying the Nigerian team which comprised players, coaches, journalists and officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), including its president, Ibrahim Gusau, and former African footballer of the year, Victor Ikpeba, was redirected to Al Abraq airport while preparing to land at Benghazi airport, it’s original destination.
The return leg of the AFCON qualifying tie between Libya and Nigeria was scheduled for Benghazi and the Super Eagles had planned to camp there for convenience. Nigeria won the first leg of the double-header 1-0 in Uyo last Friday.
The captain explained that after approval to land in Benghazi, he was later ordered to divert the plane without consideration whether he had sufficient fuel to fly to Al Abraq airport.
“The flight plan was to land at destination Benghazi, Benina. We got approval from the Libyan Civil Aviation Authority approval to land in Benghazi but unfortunately when we started to descend, they asked us to divert to Al Abraq which is almost 150 miles North East, about 300 kilometres far,” he explained in a viral video on social media.
“It was not our alternate which is not good because in aviation, we have our flight plan, we calculate fuel to our destination. We have to avoid these kind of thing because it could breach safety. And my access to land in Benghazi according to my flight plan and according to my authorization, they said no, it is from the highest authority, you have to land in Al Abraq.”
The captain dismissed the claim by the Libyan government that he diverted the plane to Al Abraq airport at his own discretion.
“No, no. Everything is recorded. In aviation, we cannot hide anything. I asked them several times, at least eight times and I wanted them, probably I will be in trouble but they said it was from highest authority; you cannot land in Benghazi, you have to divert immediately to Al Abraq. Thank God we made it safely and we landed safely in the other airport,” he stated.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has said its disciplinary board is investigating the matter after Nigeria pulled out of the game due to the over 20-hour ordeal they went through in Libya.
The pilot said all the documents for the flight schedule are available if required. He added that the airport at Al Abraq lacked runway lights but he managed to land the plane.
“All the documents in aviation, we cannot hide anything, this is out flight plan, so we cannot say something that is wrong because there is a lot of cross-checking in aviation,” he said.
“So they cannot hide this information but say other than the truth. The truth was going to Benghazi, I can show you the evidence of the approval, I have it. After that, they changed their mind at the last minute, they changed the airport.
“Even the airport (Al Abraq) is not well equipped but we made it to landing. In case we had to go round, we cannot go anywhere. Thank God I worked there for two years, so I know the area very well and it was not an easy matter at all. A pilot like me will understand it wasn’t an easy thing to land at night.”
