Izuchukwu Okosi
There was a mild drama at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja early Thursday morning as Nigeria’s Super Falcons who on Wednesday secured qualification to the 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations were humiliated by officials of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) Prime Business Africa reports.
The nine-time African champions departed Abidjan few hours after the match against the Lady Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire which they won 1-0 to reach the tournament in Morocco 3-0 on aggregate but arrived the international wing of the Abuja airport only to be held hostage by the NCDC officials.
Information from sources at the airport revealed that the NCDC insisted that all players and officials must undergo another round of routine test and pay a certain amount of money before they will be allowed to leave the airport despite them being armed with their Covid test results done less than 24 hours ago.
The overzealous NCDC officials even threatened to molest players and officials of the team if they refused to comply.
“This is a national team that has brought honours to Nigeria by winning the African women’s Nations cup a record nine times,” a member of the Falcons’ technical crew said bitterly.
“These players just defeated their Ivorian counterparts to qualify for the Nations Cup and all they got on arrival, is this inhuman treatment from officials of the NDDC.
“I think these girls deserve a better treatment,” the team’s official told the slew of sports journalists present at the airport.
A total of 12 teams will campaign at the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in Morocco with the semifinalists representing Africa at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
Follow Us