Herman Gibbs
The decision by CAF to investigate the saga of the Nigerian national football team being stranded in disturbing conditions for several hours at a Libyan airport may sound like a knee-jerk reaction.
However, over the years, there have been many cases of ill-treatment and gamesmanship against visiting teams in various continental competitions around Africa. By this time, many travelling teams have come to treat it as par for the course. Teams travelling around Africa have become hardened to these dirty tricks by host countries and clubs.
What is unique about the Nigerian situation is that the team decided to return home from Al Abraq airport without fulfilling the fixture. This airport is about 220km from Benghazi Airport, where they were scheduled to land.
Most followers of African football would have expected a potential walkover and Libya awarded the points. However, prior to the scheduled kick-off, CAF announced that the match would not take place.
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) had also earlier complained about the treatment of their players and officials on arrival in Nigeria for a qualifier in Uyo two weeks ago. The Libyans saw their flight land hours away from the match venue and the players endure long travel delays.
Nigeria won that match 1-0 to move on to seven points at the top of Group D, with Libya bottom on one point and on the brink of elimination.
Nigeria and Libya have met CAF’s Sunday deadline to submit documents supporting their claims in the dispute that led to the botched match. CAF's appointed committee to deal with the matter will meet on Wednesday evening.
Apart from the Nigeria and Libya cases, they will deal with reports from match commissioners on duty during the recent round of AFCON qualifiers. It is very likely that the pitch invasion during the recent South Africa versus Congo match in Gqeberha could also come up for discussion.
CAF has made great strides since the appointment of Patrice Motsepe as president. However, this matter of ill-treatment and gamesmanship, when clubs and countries host visiting teams, has never been adequately addressed. Consequently, this sickness has carried on for many years.
South Africa’s national team had a taste of Nigerian hospitality earlier this year when the squad was forced to sleep at an airport because it had closed for the evening – it only operated during daylight hours.