The pilot who flew the ValueJet chartered flight of the senior national team of Nigeria to Libya for the 2025 AFCON qualifiers which was later abandoned is facing serious threats from the authority in Libya, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Nigeria were due to take on Libya in the reverse tie of their AFCON qualifiers after winning 1-0 in Uyo , but the game was abandoned after the Nigerian team were left at the airport for 16 hours without food and water upon arrival.
Their flight was also diverted to another airport 300km away from the original landing base in Benghazi the city of the game. A situation which the Libya said was an instruction from the higher authority when the pilot warned them of the likelihood of a crash, because it’s against the safety procedures of aircraft safety.
Captain Abdellatif Merchergui was called by CAF to testify before their disciplinary body and he narrated his part of the story, which was largely in favor in Nigeria explaining how he was forced to land in an airport without the usual safety procedures, and the team was saved because of his knowledge of the airport.
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His statement didn’t go down well with Libya’s CAF Exco member, Abdul Hakim Al-Shalmani who voiced his unhappiness over the Tunisian pilot for backing Nigeria against his fellow Arabs.
Al-Shalmani who is not an aviation expert, described Merchergui’s testimony as “false and slanderous,” noting that the pilot provided testimony that served his Nigeria’s interests “instead of adhering to diplomatic relations between the two neighbouring countries of Libya and Tunisia.”
He has threatened to follow-up with legal action against Merchergui, as an official memorandum of complaint will be filed against the Tunisian pilot who, according to Al-Shalmani, “violated the rules of integrity and honesty.”
According to Libya Akhbar publication, Al-Shalmani pointed out that the Nigerian team exploited the fame of its professional players in international leagues to create the impression that they were victims of Libyan attacks or conspiracies.
Despite this media pressure, Al-Shalmani expressed his denunciation of this strategy, stressing that the facts on the ground are completely different from those that the Nigerian team is trying to present. He added: “What the Nigerians are trying to portray as injustice on our part is in fact an attempt to cover up the truth, as the testimony presented was completely false.”
