Two Nigerian students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), who were allegedly at the 5th World Inter-universities Championships, have been wrongly deported to Bosnia by the Croatian police. .
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The intervarsity event took place between November 13 -17, 2019 in Croatia. According to Total Croatia News, the deportees are 18-year-old Abia Uchenna Alexandro and Eboh Kenneth Chinedu.
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After the competition, the group returned to Zagreb, Croatia’s capital, where they waited for their flight back to Lagos through Istanbul, Turkey.
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However, at Zagreb, the young men decided to take a walk around the town where they were arrested and wrongly profiled.
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Narrating their story in a video that accompanied report made by Total Croatia News, Eboh said they explained to the policemen that they had never been to Bosnia but they were ignored. .
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He said, “On our way on the street, we lost our direction and a policeman came across us. He was asking us questions but he does not understand English. We tried to introduce ourselves to him but he refused to give us a listening ear.”
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The men alleged that they were taken to the police station where they were held for hours before transported to Bosnia in a van. The van stopped and they pushed them out into the bushes.
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Eboh refused to start walking in the direction where police were directing them to, and one of the policemen told him that he would shoot if he didn't start walking.
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There were other migrants being pushed back to Bosnia at the same time by the Croatian police, and they helped the two Nigerians get to the camp in Velika KladuĊĦa.
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The organisers of the competition, the InterUniversities Sport Committee confirmed that they're aware of this case.
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Alberto Tanghetti from the committee, said all five participants from Nigeria had valid visas. He confirmed that they also have return plane tickets to Istanbul and then Lagos. .
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He said that the organisation would try to contact Croatian police and see if there's anything they can do to help the students.
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