Two Nigerians held up in Bosnia camps are hale and hearty and expected to return to Croatia anytime from today Friday preparatory to come back to Nigeria.
The Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, gave this assurance on Friday.
The two Nigerians are students of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO, Abia Alexandro Uchenna and Eboh Kenneth Chinedu
Possibility of their return was sequel to series of diplomatic interventions from the Nigerian Mission in Hungary and Mr. Geoffrey Onyema, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who directed for full investigations to be carried out on their case.
It would be recalled that two students attended an international table tennis competition in Croatia and ended up in a Bosnian refugee camp.
She said arrangements had been concluded to send the two Nigerians back to Croatia anytime from today, adding that the Nigerian Mission in Hungary had taken steps to ensure that the matter was resolved and the welfare of the two Nigerians protected.
She said that five of them went for the table tennis event without the knowledge of the Nigerian Table Tennis Federation.
Two returned over two weeks ago, three of them stayed back while one already applied for asylum.
Although the Croatia authorities denied the allegation involving maltreatment by the Croatian Police, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama has demanded full investigation into the matter.
It was said that the conditions attached to the release of the Nigerians included usage of their return tickets from Zagreb, Croatia, back to Nigeria and must not seek asylum in Croatia, just as one of them did already.
Dabiri-Erewa appealed to Nigerians to always inform relevant authorities whenever they go on such trips outside the country and be of good behaviour.
According to a report, Abia Alexandro Uchenna, Eboh Kenneth 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.
They were allegedly 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.
