The Nigeria Football Federation has apologised for the ‘unfortunate’ incident leading to the delay of players and officials of the Super Falcons for over three hours at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The team on their arrival from Abidjan on Thursday morning was delayed due to COVID-19 protocols.
The NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, who disclosed this in a statement titled, ‘NFF says airport incident ‘unfortunate’,’ on Thursday said the situation was beyond the NFF.
Sanusi was quoted as saying, “It was an unfortunate incident because we had our protocol officers on the ground at the airport and they did the needful before the team arrived. We are a responsible organisation and the various National Teams have been going out and returning to Nigeria since these COVID-19 protocols, procedures and guidelines started. We have never been caught napping.
“The issue had to do with COVID-19 protocols and we had no control over how things would be approached by the officials in charge at the airport each time. In this particular case, we fulfilled our part of the requirements. However, some other group of individuals arrived at the same time as the Super Falcons’ contingent and were bent on circumventing the process, and this compelled the health officials to adopt stern measures and even lock up some of their offices.
“It was beyond us, but we have already apologised to our players and officials over this incident.”