Former Super Eagles defender, Taribo West, on Friday berated the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Lagos State Government for allegedly abandoning the family of late goalkeeper Peter Rufai.
Speaking at Rufai’s burial in a video posted by News Central, the ex-Inter Milan star expressed disappointment over what he described as the neglect of Nigerian football heroes after their death.
“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,” West said.
He recalled how deeply Rufai’s death touched him. “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 lamented.
The former international compared Rufai’s case to the neglect suffered by other late Nigerian football legends including Stephen Keshi, Rashidi Yekini, and Thompson Oliha, stressing that the treatment of ex-players discouraged him from allowing his children to serve the country through football.
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“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 added.
Rufai, fondly called Dodo Mayana, was Nigeria’s first-choice goalkeeper during the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations triumph and the country’s debut at the FIFA World Cup the same year. He passed away in July 2025.
