Super Eagles defender-turned pastor, Taribo West, has berated the Nigerian system for the way it allegedly treated the sickness of a national goalkeeper, Peter Rufai, who died in July 2025.
He said he was abandoned at the time he mostly needed the country.
According to West, the Nigeria Football Federation and the Lagos State Government ought to have intervened when Rufai needed medical intervention.
Speaking at Rufai’s burial in a video posted by News Central on Friday, West argued: “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.
The former international recalled similar situations with late football icons such as Stephen Keshi, Rashidi Yekini, and Thompson Oliha, stressing that the treatment of ex-players discouraged him from encouraging 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.
He passed away in July 2025.
