Sports Entrepreneur and former Gombe United Football Club Chairman, Ahmed Shuaibu Gara-Gombe has taken time to educate football stakeholders demanding an apology over his comments on the implications based on Confederation of African Football (CAF) rules on the botched second leg AFCON qualifier match between Libya and the Super Eagles in Benghazi.
In a statement made available to journalists, he lampooned the level ignorance exhibited by Nigeria’s football authorities following the Nigeria and Libyan National Teams debacle.
“My attention has been drawn to a report which I confirmed that some hydra-headed stakeholders were faulting me based on my comments concerning the Super Eagles and Libya National Teams. Some are even calling for my head, saying I should apologize.
“First, let me categorically say here that I owe no one an Apology because I have done nothing wrong. Those who should apologize are people who brought disgrace to Nigerian sports, those who have stolen Nigeria’s resources in sports. There are people who have stolen anything there is in Nigerian football and are representing us in the Federation of International Football (FIFA) are the ones who are supposed to apologize.
“Someone was also given N24 billion in less than one year for the AFCON and the Olympic Games and it was squandered without a medal. Did anyone ask him to apologize? And you are asking me to apologize for exercising my fundamental human rights, for expressing my personal opinion? I’m not going to do that,” he stated.
Gara-Gombe, who is the Chairman of Gombe State Athletics Association, said the kind of slothfulness and embarrassment caused Nigeria in Libya will still repeat and that it was senseless for the Super Eagles to return to Nigeria without playing their match in Libya.
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Speaking further, he said: “Libya is not at war, football games are not played at the Airport, but in stadiums. As such, irrespective of the experience Super Eagles faced at the Airport, they would have waited to hear from the CAF and its representatives.
“I heard someone saying, “How could they communicate to CAF when they are locked in at the Airport. If they were locked in at the Airport, were Phone signals also locked out at the Airport? Did the Match Commissioner also tell Nigeria he was locked in too?
He also pointed out that two weeks before the Nigeria vs Libya match, the match officials and the match commissioner were known, maintaining that when a team sets out to play a match of that nature, the authority resides with the organizers, which is CAF.
“When they decided to return to Nigeria, did they get in touch with the Match Commissioner? If they were in touch with him, did he tell them the match is postponed, they can return to Nigeria and why were they unable to get in touch with him.
How could they have traveled to a match destination, they didn’t have the numbers of CAF match officials? If they say they were locked in and have no communication? How were they able to communicate to Nigerians via WhatsApp, Facebook and others all information that came out from Libya,? Gara-Gombe queried.
“In as much as I am not defending the Libyans actions, my point is that the Libyans over reacted in their response. Something may have triggered the Libyans to retaliate. Although they have a history of being hostile to visiting teams, all I am saying is that there is no smoke without fire. I’m surprised that those commenting on the matter including NFF officials are ignorant of CAF’s rules.
“The rules guiding the civil aviation on international flights say: “Any international flight coming to Nigeria must land at the international airport and the host country before going to a local destination.
“The same kind of incident happened to a Moroccan team which I personally handled. They came on their way to Uyo for a competition organized by CAF two years ago they had a chartered flight with a choice to either land in Lagos or Port Harcourt.
“Because the designated airport in Uyo did not have facilities to process some documents through Customs and immigration, so they have to obey and land in Port Harcourt first. A concession was given for them to fly to Port Harcourt and later to Uyo as plans have been made for customs to do the normal routine checks of stamping their passports, among other checks.
“So when the Libyans came because our football authorities are ignorant in handling these issues, the Libyans felt they were treated badly for not being allowed to land in Uyo.
“If they were properly informed, it is a different thing, but who is to inform them if not the same NFF who are to receive them. But because the Libyans don’t know, they felt it was a deliberate attempt by the NFF to frustrate them, so they also looked for a way to retaliate,” the statement reads.
