A strange ‘catch 22’ type of problem with iPad

Tried to use an iPad that I haven’t used in a while.

When I try to activate it, it shows me the iCloud account we last used with it, but when I try to login using that account, it gives me the error:

”This Apple ID cannot be used to unlock this ipad - ******”

but this doesn’t make sense because it already has that ID at the activation screen, yet when I use it, it doesn’t accept it.

Even more strange, when I login to iCloud.com from a browser, this specific iPad is not listed there!

I searched through so many similar discussions but didn’t see anyone with strange issue that doesn’t make logical sense.

Anyone have any clue on how to solve this? Note, I didn’t try using iTunes to fix this issue yet