President of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo describes the Holy Bible as God’s Constitution for mankind. The book is expected to guide man to navigate this world without blemish if man adheres to the teachings therein. There is nothing under the sun, including human behaviour, that is not mentioned and how to go about it in the Bible.

Even though Sportsmanship may not have been mentioned directly, but it talks about it in the book of Philippians 2:3 thus: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” In essence, we are supposed to be courteous to our fellow human beings and treat them kindly. In sports, they include the officials, spectators, teammates and opponents before, during, and after games or events.

The Libyans didn’t display fair and generous behaviour or treatment to their Nigerian counterparts who were in their country for the second leg of the African Nations Cup qualifiers. They claim the Nigerians treated them shabbily when they came for the first leg, so the treatment meted out to the Super Eagles and the Nigerian delegation was therefore deliberate and in retaliation. In football retaliation earns a heavier sanction than the first act.

Even if the Nigerians treated them badly, which was definitely not deliberate as it could be a problem of logistics, since they didn’t report it officially to CAF, the football body, like the referee, will take their retaliation as a much more serious offence. Because the maltreatment of the Super Eagles is what CAF and the whole world saw, the Libyans have been asked to defend themselves. Since they claim they were poorly treated in Nigeria, they should first show proof that they were supposed to land in Uyo but were forced to land in Port Harcourt because the NFF wanted them to travel by road to Uyo.

In the case of the Super Eagles, the Tunisian pilot that flew them to Libya has a proof that he got approval and clearance to land in Benghazi but was forcefully diverted to land in another city, Al-Abraq, far from the venue of the match. In Port Harcourt the Libyans were not prevented from leaving the arrival hall of the airport as they moved around freely. For the Super Eagles, the Libyans forbade them to leave the arrival hall, eat anything nor drink water. In fact they were held hostage.

By their actions, the Libyan Football Federation, LFF officials were not only out to frustrate the Super Eagles so their team could defeat them easily, their government really meant to endanger the lives of the players and officials as well as the airline crew. CAF president, Patrice Motsepe oblivious of the severity of the maltreatment of the Super Eagles, had urged the team to go ahead with the match but the minister of sports development, Senator John Enoh insisted that the safety of the players was more important than the match.

Following the intervention of the sports minister and his foreign affairs counterpart, Yusuf Tuggar as well as the intervention of Nigeria FIFA Executive Committee member and former CAF vice president, Amaju Pinnick, the continent’s football body has begun investigation into the circumstances that led to the boycott of the match by the Super Eagles. We hear both countries have been given till today to submit their defence in the unsportsmanlike behaviour while it has slated Tuesday to deliver its verdict on the recommendation of the Investigation Panel.

Rather than wait for the outcome of the CAF investigation, the Libyans who are denying any wrong doing are already querying the integrity of the CAF panel. The LFF secretary general, Nasser Al-Suwaie who refused to disclose to his Nigerian counterpart, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi their team’s travel plan, was quoted by a Libyan online medium as saying that there might be a collusion by some parties within CAF against Libya. This is the thinking of a guilty mind. In his defence, he said that the diversion of the Super Eagles plane to another city was “the decision of the Libyan government and that the sovereignty of Libya must be respected”. Really?

This is not the first time a Nigerian football team is facing hostility from the Libyans. A board member of the NFF, Felix Anyansi-Agu, a former chairman Enyimba Football Club of Aba told Vanguard Sports at the weekend that the two-time CAF Champions League winners were subjected to a worse ordeal when they were kept at the airport for 24 hours prior to their match against Al-Ittihad sometime ago.. Anyansi said because it was a club side, it wasn’t taken seriously, adding that the Libyans made a mistake this time around, extending the same humiliation to the national team parading well known players which has now attracted concern from around the world.

This treatment against visiting teams has been going on over the years but the Libyans took it to a new and dangerous level when they forcefully diverted a team’s plane and held them hostage for several hours. From the frustrating football they played in Uyo, it was clear they planned to create crisis and maybe win through the back door. But they should have known that Libya and Nigeria are not equal when it comes to the game at both CAF and FIFA levels. From records, the best result the Libyan team have ever had against Nigeria was a 0-0 draw they recorded away from home. So even if the Benghazi match is awarded to the Libyans, they will still not qualify. The world is waiting to see what the verdict by CAF will be concerning the football terrorism the Libyans, who shamefully are led by two governments, exhibited against their Nigerian counterparts last week