Former Super Eagles defender Taribo West has berated the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and Lagos State Government for allegedly abandoning the family of late goalkeeper Peter Rufai.
West spoke in a video posted by News Central last Friday during Rufai’s burial, expressing disappointment at 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,” he said.
“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 added.
The ex-Inter Milan star also recalled the cases of Stephen Keshi, Rashidi Yekini and Thompson Oliha, stressing that the poor treatment of football greats discouraged him from encouraging his children to serve the country.
“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 their debut FIFA World Cup appearance the same year. He also featured at the 1998 World Cup in France.
Born in Lagos in 1963, Rufai played for Stationery Stores before moving to Europe where he represented clubs in Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, including Hércules and Deportivo La Coruña. He made 65 appearances for the Super Eagles, famously scoring from the penalty spot in a 1993 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Ethiopia.
The son of the traditional ruler of Idimu, Rufai refused to take up the throne after his father’s death in 1999, choosing instead to remain in football. After retiring in 2000, he ran a goalkeeping academy in Spain.
He died in Lagos on July 3, aged 61, after a prolonged illness.