SOMALI WORLD CUP REFEREE DENIED ENTRY TO UNITED STATES. (PHOTO).

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 Somali World Cup Referee Denied Entry to United States Award-winning Somali referee, Omar Artan, has been denied entry into the United States despite holding a valid visa, according to a senior official in Somalia’s sports ministry. Artan, who is set to become the first Somali referee to officiate at the FIFA World Cup finals, was stopped at Miami International Airport and subsequently returned to Istanbul, where he had been residing. The reason for the denial was not immediately disclosed. However, Somalia is among the countries affected by a travel ban introduced by the administration of Donald Trump. Reacting to the development, Ciise Aden Abshir, a senior adviser to Somalia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports and a former national team captain, described Artan as one of Africa’s most respected referees. “Omar Artan is among Africa’s most respected referees and deserves the support of the entire football community,” Abshir told AFP on Monday. He added that preventing the referee fro...

POLICE GUN DOWN KIDNAP SUSPECT, RESCUE DOCTOR, NINE OTHERS.(PHOTO).




Police gun down kidnap suspect, rescue doctor, nine others


24 May 2023 


Benue State Police crime squad  yesterday said a  kidnap suspect was killed at Gaya, near Benue-Taraba state boundary. Ten victims were rescued, including a popular medical doctor with the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Makurdi, Obadia Etito, and a businesswoman and her two-year-old baby were also rescued.


The squad said its operatives had an encounter with kidnappers on Monday, adding that three of the suspects were also arrested during the operation.


The suspects were paraded at the Benue State Police Command headquarters, Makurdi, Monday.


Dr. Etito was kidnapped with his brother when they missed their way along Zaki Biam Road, Benue, during a trip to Taraba State on May 13.


The kidnappers demanded a ransom of N30 million but police operatives stormed the criminals’ den at Gaya forest in the early hours of Monday, while negotiations were still ongoing, and arrested three of the suspects.


Etito in an interview with The Nation, said the kidnappers beat him without mercy when they demanded a ransom of N30 million and he offered N5 million.


Etito, the Medical Director, Hope Clinic, Wadata in Makurdi, said he was kept in a roundhouse with other kidnapped victims and did not eat for 10 days before his rescue.


“I just heard gunshots from all directions and someone asked “where is that Doctor?”  That’s how I was rescued. I was blindfolded and forced to trek 10km into the forest, even when the police rescued me I was unable to trek, so they carried me at the back.”


Dr. Etito said: “The kidnappers continue to bring in their victims, blindfold and dump them in the small round house until he regains freedom on Monday morning. 

 

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