A dramatic talking point heading into Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Nigeria and Libya was the apparent secretive nature of the visitors, which sports247.ng learnt might not be unconnected with their fear of juju attack in Uyo.
Libya’s former coach, Adel Amrouche had stated in weeks leading up to the match that he is aware of Nigeria’s juju antics and, though he later said he had only been joking, The Mediterranean Knights appeared to take his words to heart.
Such it was that the Libyan delegation finally arrived Nigeria late on Friday for Saturday’s game, but snubbed all entreaties from Nigeria Football Federation’s protocol officials on hand to lead them to an official hotel in Uyo.
Uyo fans chorused that the Libyans’ decision to reject the accommodation provided by the NFF was due to their fear that Nigeria could use fetish means to bewitch them before the game.
This brought up speculation that it has also been because of same fear that they changed their arrival date to Friday instead of Thursday, after two altered dates in their previous schedules.
The Libyans then used their national carrier to land in Uyo rather than Lagos as earlier planned, with all their antics aimed to avoid contact with their hosts and fans before the game due to fears of someone casting a spell on them.
Ironically, despite all their efforts, the Libyans went behind early in Saturday’s game, as Odion Jude Ighalo got up from being brought down in the penalty box to put Nigeria ahead from the spot under five minutes of play in Uyo.
