According to our colleagues from KickoffNigeria, only 15 over 24 players were present at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar on Tuesday, with the others missing through flight trouble.

Six of the nine players were scheduled to be on the 14h00 Arik Air service from Abuja to Calabar, but the flight was delayed until 15h45, meaning the players were taking off from Abuja when the rest of the team were already at the stadium.

Ahmed Musa, Shola Ameobi, Efe Ambrose, Gabriel Reuben, Obinna Nsofor and Kenneth Omeruo were all on the flight and arrived at the team’s Metropolitan Hotel lodgings on Tuesday evening.