A Twitter user (@nasirdaniya) shared a collage of three pictures supposedly depicting a bedridden Peter Rufai, former super eagles goalkeeper in a wheelchair, languishing in sickness and poverty.

“This is disheartening! Imagine what the former @NGSuperEagles goalie Peter Rufai has been going through. The Hon Minister of @NigeriaFMYS @SundayDareSD and @thenff need to do something urgently!” @Nasirdaniya tweeted alongside the images.

As of the time this report was filed, the tweet already has 776 thousand views, 3,025 retweets, and 5,694 likes.

Findings show that the claim is MISLEADING.

Here are the Facts:

We first separated images in the collage into independent copies, into “picture one” and “picture two”. The man in a wheelchair wearing green, and the first one with the goalkeeper wearing a yellow jersey.

A Google reverse image search of the image of the goalkeeper dressed in yellow (picture one) showed that he is Peter Rufai. Further search on the image leads to the website of Getty Images, an American stock supplier that commissions photographers to cover major sporting events.

Picture two: Peter Fregene

A reverse Google search of the second image with the man in a wheelchair, wearing green, brings up the name Peter Fregene.

Peter Fregene is also a former Nigerian international goalkeeper who was part of the 1968 Olympic Team in Mexico. 

Nicknamed the “flying cat,” Mr Fregene, 76, played for stationery Stores of Lagos, where he won the Nigerian FA Cup. He was the country’s first-choice goalkeeper from 1968 to 1971.

A further search of the name leads to an article written by Segun Odegbami in March 2019 and published by Completesports, where he revealed that Fregene has been bedridden for more than two decades.

A careful understudy of Mr. Rufai’s official Instagram handle shows the former footballer is active and has not posted or shared anything that portrays him ill. On New year (2023), the former short-stopper shared a picture of himself in a well and hearty condition.

Conclusion

The tweet claiming that Peter Rufai is sick and bedridden is misleading. The image used in the narrative is of Peter Fregene, who has been in a wheelchair for a long time.