The Nigerian Super Eagles players declined to play their game with the Mediterranean Knights of Libya over the unpleasant attitude of Libyan authorities by rescinding their approved landing in Benghazi with no official reason. The Nigeria national team players were locked in Al Abraq airport without a phone connection, food, or drink for hours.
Sport is an extension of diplomacy, Ordinarily, international games such as the Africa Nations Cup qualifying games are instruments to promote political, economic, and cultural relations among nations. it should be an instrument of peace. However, it has become counter-productive in the light of the present situation.
Libya and Nigeria have a complex relationship, with cooperation and tensions in their diplomatic relations. Nigerian citizens have over the years expressed concerns about the treatment of Nigerian migrants in Libya, including reports of human trafficking, exploitation, and sex slavery.
Foreign policy mirrors domestic underpinnings, Nigerians are also being maltreated domestically by their leaders which is perhaps the reason why most countries get away with the inhuman treatment they meet with Nigerians whenever they travel outside their shores.
Libyans are traditionally conservative Sunni Muslims; they believe that after former leader Myammar Gaddafi’s bloody overthrow in 2011 everything in their country needed fixing – except their observance of Islam. At the core of their problem is security and leadership issues- the control over the country is currently split between the Government of National Stability (GNS) supported by the House Representatives in Tobruk and the Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli and their respective supporters as well as various Jihadist groups and tribal elements controlling most of the country.
Libya and Nigeria share two things in common –insecurity and resource curse. Resource Curse also known as the paradox of plenty, refers to the phenomenon where countries with an abundance of natural resources experience negative economic, political, and social consequences. Most resource curse nations suffer from Dutch disease (over-reliance on a single resource). Libya and Nigeria are key players in the international oil supply, but yet they remain the most undesirable places to live on earth due to insecurity and absolute poverty in the case of Nigeria.
Using the current action by Libyan authorities, Nigeria must take decisive action, particularly to restore the dignity of Nigerians living in that country, from the report by the team captain Troost Ekong, the national team players of a sovereign nation like Nigeria were locked in the airport for over 17 hours without food, drink or any connection in an abandoned airport, these meet the ingredients of hostage-taking. Hostage-taking is the act of seizing or holding someone with no means of escape, typically to force a concession or by playing a mind game as it is with the present case.
Therefore, the Nigerian government must use all the available legal instruments to ensure that this current matter and all the issues that Nigerians in Libya are going through are addressed. Nigerians of all classes deserve due respect in line with the established doctrine of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
