Orders to Divert The Super Eagles Flight Came From Higher Authority ~ Super Eagles Pilot Says

The Tunisian pilot who flew the Super Eagles to Libya has said, he was order to land the airplane in a different a location by the Libya authorities.

According to the pilot the original aircraft was to land in Benghazi, Libya, as approved by the aviation authorities, orders came in last minute to divert to a different location as the neared their destination.

He said “The flight plan was to land in Benghazi. We got the approval from the Libyan civil aviation authority that we were approved to land,” the pilot explained. “But unfortunately, when we started the decent they asked us to divert to Mitiga, which is almost 150 miles (300 km) away. This was not even our alternate airport.”

“I ask them several times, at least eight times and I warned them that I would be in trouble for the fuel situation,” he recounted. “They said it was from the highest authority and we had to divert to Mitiga immediately.”

The revelation comes hours after the Super Eagles players were reportedly mistreated by the Libyan authorities against their match on Tuesday, October 15. The Super Eagles already boycotted this match and flew home after being held hostage for 20 hours.

The captain of the Super Eagles William Troost-Ekong in a tweet said it was “disgraceful” and accused the host of playing “mind game.”

He also revealed the Super Eagles were kept in an abandoned airport with mo access to food, water and Internet connection.

Nigeria defeated Libya at the Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Friday October 11. The match ended in 1-0. Both countries were scheduled to play return leg in Libya October 15.