Former Super Eagles defender, Taribo West, has condemned the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Lagos State Government for allegedly neglecting the family of late goalkeeper, Peter Rufai.
West made the remarks during Rufai’s burial, in a video shared by News Central on Friday. The ex-Inter Milan star lamented what he described as a recurring pattern of abandonment faced by Nigerian football icons after their passing.
“It’s disheartening that you have Lagos State, you have the Nigerian Football Association. They drop the bulk on the family. I felt in my spirit that there is nothing to put your life for. That’s why I say I have to shift back so that I will not implode. It’s grieving.
“My mother passed on. I never shed tears. My father passed on in my hands. I never shed tears. When Rufai passed on, I had goose pimples on my body. And every individual I’m speaking to, there were tears rolling down my cheeks. What kind of nation is this?” he said.
West recalled that similar neglect befell other Nigerian football legends, including Stephen Keshi, Rashidi Yekini, and Thompson Oliha. According to him, such treatment of ex-players makes it difficult for him to encourage his children to serve the country through football.
“With this kind of example, I will never advise even my son to put his feet for this country. Send me out! Do we have a Football Federation or do we have a Football Association in this Lagos State? That this hero, this soldier, this football evangelist, has to be treated this way in his family.
“Could you imagine that the family would be crying just to solicit in within our groups to ask for money? That is madness. Look, please let me go. I don’t want to pour my heart,” he stated.
Rufai, fondly called “Dodo Mayana,” was Nigeria’s first-choice goalkeeper during the country’s 1994 Africa Cup of Nations triumph and its debut appearance at the FIFA World Cup in the same year. He died in July 2025.
