Sports Minister condemns unpleasant treatment of Super Falcons players at Abuja Airport

Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has strongly condemned the unpleasant treatment of the Super Falcons on their return to the country.

The national women senior football team returned to Abuja from Abidjan, Cote’d Ivoire on Thursday, where, just a few hours earlier, they picked a ticket to the African Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) tournament to be hosted in Morocco in July.

In widely circulated videos trending on social media, the footballers and their officials were seen going through difficult times at the airport, delayed for about three to four hours owing to Covid 19 protocols and later the locking up of all terminal exit doors for a totally different reason.

It’s sad how NFF treat the Super Falcons, the most decorated National Team in Africa.

They were stranded for over 3 hours on their arrival to Nigeria, locked inside the airport by NCDC officials despite Covid test from Abidjan & no NFF delegate to welcome them.

This is so sad pic.twitter.com/kBSq4mutAP

— POOJA… (@PoojaMedia) February 24, 2022

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One of the players, Uchenna Kalu was seen lying on the floor, in pain and dire need of medical attention.

Dare, clearly disappointed with the incident, said a complete account of what happened has been received by his office and the Ministry will send it to the National Centre of Disease Control(NCDC) and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria(FAAN) to thoroughly investigate the matter and ensure that our footballers, sports men and women are treated fairly and respectfully.

The Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) will meet with the relevant authorities to review and ensure that this type of situation does not happen again.

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