The Tunisian pilot who flew the Super Eagles team from Nigeria to Libya for the African Cup of Nations qualifiers has explained what transpired during the trip.

The Super Eagles' poor treatment in Libya has generated several controversies after the team was stranded at the Al Albraq airport for over 20 hours after departing Nigeria on Sunday afternoon to take on Libya in the return encounter.

In an interview that has surfaced on social media, the pilot of the ValueJet, the official carrier for the Super Eagles, explained that the Libyan Civil Aviation Authority directed him not to land in Benghazi, which was the original flight destination.

“The flight plan was to land at Benghazi, Benina, and we had the approval from the Libyan Civil Aviation Authority to do so,” the pilot said.

“However, when we began to descend, they instructed us to divert to Al-Abraq, which is almost 150 miles away, around 300 kilometres east. It wasn’t even listed as our alternate airport, something which is not good,” he added.

The pilot highlighted the risk involved in the sudden change of landing location.

“In aviation, we have our flight plan; we calculate the fuel to our destination, so we have to avoid this kind of thing because it may breach safety,” he stated.

“When I asked to land in Benghazi according to my flight plan and my authorisation, they said no, it’s from the highest authority, you have to land in Al-Abraq.”

He also refuted claims that the diversion was his discretion.

“Everything is registered in aviation; we cannot hide anything, so I asked them several times, at least eight times, and I warned them, probably I will be in trouble for fuel; they said it’s from the highest authority, you cannot land in Benghazi, you have to divert immediately to Al-Abraq.”

Check out the full video of the pilot's interview below: