Libya disappointed as CAF cancels AFCON qualifier against Nigeria

Just as the Libyans were preparing to walk over the Super Eagles, on Tuesday evening, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) officially announced the cancellation of the Libya versus Nigeria Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

Libya were hoping to walk over the Super Eagles and then go ahead to demand that CAF award three goals and three points, which would have helped in their desperate pursuit of a Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations ticket.

Libya is currently last on the four-team Group D table with one point from three games and a win against Nigeria would have taken their points haul to four, two, and three behind second-placed Benin Republic and Rwanda, who are on six and five points respectively with two rounds of matches to go.

Following their alleged “inhuman” treatment of the Nigerian delegation to the botched game, and the Super Eagles’ subsequent boycott of the match, the Libyans wanted to walk over Nigeria under the pretext that the Eagles failed to turn up for the encounter.

Before the CAF’s announcement, the Libyans had banked on the presence of the match officials, whom they had already convinced to conduct the walkover procedure, to justify their claim to the three points.

In a statement on its official website, CAF said: “The TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 Qualifier fixture between Libya and Nigeria will not take place as scheduled tonight. The matter will be referred to the competent CAF bodies.”

The African football ruling body has already constituted a nine-man panel to investigate the circumstances leading to Nigeria’s decision to boycott the game after arriving in Libya.

Specifically, the committee is charged with finding out if Libya did its duty as host of the qualifier in line with the stipulations of the CAF statutes, and whether Nigeria’s decision to boycott the game is justified.