How FUTO students landed in Bosnian refugee camp, Dabiri-Erewa clears the air

By Anietie Udobit, Abuja

Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa has cleared the air on how two students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), who attended an international table tennis competition in Croatia, ended up in a Bosnian refugee camp.

According to a report, Abia Uchenna, Eboh Chinedu, and three other students, arrived in Zagreb, capital of Croatia, on November 12, for the fifth world inter-university championships held in the country.

The report claimed that the table tennis players were arrested while taking a walk around the country’s capital on November 18 as they couldn’t produce relevant documents to the police.

The police officers were reported to have transferred the students to the country’s Bosnia-Herzegovina border, where Croatian authorities had gathered a group of illegal migrants attempting to cross into the country.

Reacting to the report on Thursday December 12, Dabiri-Erewa said the students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), left the country without the knowledge of the Table tennis federation.

Dabiri-Erewa said: “five went without the knowledge of the Table tennis federation. Two returned over two weeks ago. Two stayed back, applied for assylum, then the problem began. One in Croatia sees the futility of staying back, wants to return. Our Ambassador in Hungary, still on the matter.”