Following the verdict delivered by the Confederation of African Football in response to the complaint lodged by the Nigeria Football Federation over the recent inhumane treatment meted out to the Super Eagles in Libya, members of the Nigerian community have reported mass arrests and fines in the country.
The Nigerian football team was held at the Al-Abraq Airport in eastern Libya for over 20 hours upon arrival for the second leg of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between the Super Eagles and Libya’s national team.
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The contingent was scheduled to land at the Benghazi Airport and travel for nearly four hours by road to Benina, where the match was to be played.
However, less than an hour before landing, the Tunisian pilot reportedly received a directive from Libyan authorities to divert the flight to the Al-Abraq Airport, located 150 miles away from the destination.
The development sparked widespread outrage, forcing the NFF to withdraw the Super Eagles from the qualifying match and file an official complaint to CAF.
In its ruling on Saturday, October 26, signed by its Chairman, Ousmane Kane, the disciplinary committee of the African football body awarded the Super Eagles of Nigeria three points and three goals for the abandoned match.
The disciplinary board ruled that the Libyan Football Federation breached Article 31 of the Africa Cup of Nations Regulations and Articles 82 and 151 of the CAF Disciplinary Code.
Campaign against Nigerians
Following the CAF ruling, a popular Libyan news blog, Libya News Today 1, posted on Sunday, stating, “All Libyan TV channels are urging the government to arrest the Nigerian workers who are working here in Libya without legal papers. They have to pay $500 plus taxes.
The fine that Libya is accused of will be paid by Nigerian citizens who live in Libya. We have been subjected to injustice. We have no borders with Nigeria. What benefit are they to us? They’re a burden on the Libyan people. They have to go back home.”
The blog has more than 188,000 followers on Facebook and 57,000 likes.
The post was accompanied by a video of a Libyan TV presenter, who said, “Anyone who is living in Libya and working without paying tax is eating haram, which means sinful money. The government should make every effort to arrest all Nigerians who are working in Libya so that they can pay a tax of $500 and regulate their stay in the country by obtaining residence permits.”
Another Libyan site, Libya INF.TV, reported that Libyan stations wanted the government to start arresting Nigerian workers.
“Those who don’t have Libyan papers will have to pay a fine of $500 for taxes. If you refuse deportation, no mercy. The Libyan government will pay the Nigerian government from their citizens’ money,” the post said.
The President of the Nigerian community in Libya, Peter Omoregbie, also confirmed the arrests in a video shared by multiple Libya-based Nigerian blogs during the week.
Omoregbie, who confirmed this while making an official report at the Libyan immigration office on Monday, said, “The arrests started on Sunday night in some areas in Tedora. They are arresting innocent people. They don’t even care whether you have passports or residence permits. They just don’t care, which doesn’t happen in other countries.”
When asked to provide background to the incident, he said, “The football body is an association on its own, which the government isn’t supposed to interfere with according to CAF laws. There was a football match scheduled between Nigeria and Libya on October 15. Nigeria was supposed to arrive in Benghazi, but they were diverted to another state, so the match could not take place. The Nigerian football team then returned home. Since then, CAF has investigated the issue and set up a committee to find out what really happened.
“As the community leader, I received some videos showing that the arrests started last night in the Tedora area. They said the Libyan police have started arresting Nigerians, whether they have passports or not. Some of us are already afraid, calling everywhere to ask what to do. Sometimes, as community leaders, we are helpless. Even the Nigerian Embassy’s hands are sometimes tied. But international bodies need to intervene in this situation.”
