The Nigeria Football Federation secretariat was in frenzy yesterday following the outbreak of mass protests in two prominient cities of Libya, where the Flying Eagles were engaging in a friendly duel ahead of the African Youth Championship fiesta.
A worried Secretary general of the federation, Barrister Musa Amadu, called coach John Obuh to ascertain the safety of the team soon after the left the National Assembly Complex where the NFF had gone for the defense of its 2011 budget.
“Coach, how are you and the players? How is the road? Is everything okay with you? Are there crowd (protesters) on the road, or how safe are you?,” he querried the coach, who sensing his agitation breathed in loudly before responding thus.
“We are on our way to the match venue. You know the match holds in about an hour. Where we are okay and shall return immediately to the hotel after the match and prepare to take off to Turkey tomorrow (today),” he said even as he again sighed loudly.
In a release later in the evening, Amadu said, “Although the current trouble spot is said to be somewhat far away from our team’s Al-Wahat Tourist Hotel base, it is still necessary to be in touch with them and monitor very closely what is happening there.
“Officials of the Libyan Football Association have also been up-and-doing. They have advised our players and officials to stay indoors except when they are going for their second friendly match”, said Amadu.
The Nigeria contingent will fly out to Istanbul from Benghazi aboard a Turkish Airlines flight at 4.20pm (3.20pm Nigeria time), for their 25-day training camp in Antalya, today.
