PLAYERS and officials of Racing Bobo Dioulasso FC of Burkina Faso, who arrived Lagos yesterday for their CAF Confederations Cup second leg match against Warri Wolves, were delayed for several hours at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, following the failure of one of the players to produce his International Passport at the point of entry.
Wolves won the first leg 1-0 in Bobo Dioulasso two weeks ago. The second leg of the match earlier scheduled for Sunday, March 1, at the Warri City Stadium will hold tomorrow.
An advanced team of two men from Burkina Faso was said to have arrived Warri two days ago, while the rest of the delegation of 29 people from Bobo Dioulasso arrived Lagos yesterday afternoon.
The Guardian learnt yesterday that one of the players of Racing Bobo Dioulasso of Burkina Faso was detained by security operatives at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos for arriving the country without International passport.
The team was flown into Lagos by ASKY Airline at about 1.30pm, but was delayed till 4.00pm by Immigration officials following the failure by the player to produce his International Passport.
Instead of traveling with his International Passport, it was learnt that the player flew into the country with only his personal identity card, which is against international traveling laws.
It was not clear yesterday if the player was released to the team for their onward journey to Warri, Delta State this morning. The delay at the Lagos airport aborted their earlier scheduled flight to Warri yesterday.
Meanwhile, players of Warri Wolves say they are united in their determination to win the match, after boycotting training on Tuesday in protest over delay in payment of their January salary.
One of the players, who spoke with The Guardian after evening training yesterday, said they have put behind them the unfortunate incident. He added: “It was just a minor issue between us and the management, but we were surprised to read it in the media.
