Nigerian soccer star faces 40 lashes for boozing
The BBC says a Nigerian soccer star playing in Sudan has been convicted of imbibing alcohol and sentenced to a flogging. If Stephen Worgu’s appeal is turned down, he will get 40 lashes and a fine of about US$100, some for boozing, and some for driving drunk. Alcohol is effectively banned in the largely Arab Muslim north of the country, but is freely available in the black African-run Christian and animist south. Worgu was bought by top club Al Merreikh for $2.6 million from Enyimba in Nigeria, in one of the biggest football transfers in African history, and has been top scorer in the 2008 African Champions League. But by all accounts he is not a practicing Muslim, saying he is having a hard time with Sharia law. Read more: BBC
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