The Nigerian team yesterday morning at the Jomo Kenyatta airport rejected the bus arranged by the Kenya Football Federation to take them to the hotel as they declared it as a rickety vehicle.
Kenya officials who met the team at the airport insisted that the team must take the bus provided for them, and head for the 680 Hotel booked by the FKF which Nigeria’s advance party had turned down.
According to one Kenyan journalist at the airport, the FKF bus was a rickety contraption that looked like it belonged in a scrap yard.
“It was a small, old bus that wouldn’t even have fit the players, let alone the entire travelling party.”
For 20 minutes, both sides argued back and forth, with players directed this way and that, until Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi stepped in to act as mediator, explaining to the FKF officials why the Eagles had a right to take their own luxury, air conditioned bus and head for their hotel of choice.
The FKF bus was then used to transport balls and luggage as the Nigerian contingent left without police escort, which only caught up with them along the way.
