FUTO table tennis players who landed in Bosnian refugee camp ‘are on their way home’

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) says two students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), who ended up in a Bosnian refugee camp, have been released.

Abia Uchenna and Eboh Chinedu, the students, had attended an international table tennis competition in Croatia, before they ended up in a Bosnian refugee camp.

Ahead of their return trip to Lagos, the Nigerian students were taking a walk in the country’s capital on November 18, when they were apprehended by the police.

The inability of the students to provide their travel documents at the point of apprehension made the police officers convey the students to the country’s border and later to a refugee camp, with an assumption that they were illegal immigrants.

But in a statement on Friday, Gabriel Odu, NIDCOM spokesman, said the students have been released and are on their way back to Nigeria.

Odu commended Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, Eniola Ajayi, Nigerian ambassador to Hungary, as well as Abike Dabiri-Erewa, NIDCOM chairman, for intervening in the matter.

“Latest reports indicate that the two Nigerians detained in Bosnia border camp have been released and are airborne back home to Nigeria,” the statement read.

“We commend the quick intervention of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Geofrey Onyeama, the Nigerian Ambassador to Hungary Amb Eniola Ajayi and staff of the mission and the unrelenting efforts of the Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa. The Commission earnestly wait for their safe return.

“It could be recalled that the two Nigerians were arrested while taking a walk around the capital on November 18 as they couldn’t produce relevant documents to the police.

“The police officers reportedly transferred them to Bosnia-Herzegovina border, where Croatian authorities had gathered a group of irregular migrants making efforts to cross into the country.”