It's Full Time for Peter Rufai as He Dies at 61

[Kneedeep]

Thank you Peter Rufai. An incredible talent with early flaws who made a career learning, improving and seeking new challenges.

[mastermind]

Oliseh on Rufai

[Scipio Africanus]

Rest in peace Dodo Mayana. A colossal Nigerian that made you stand tall and proud! We will not see his like again.

[Scipio Africanus]

Oliseh on Rufai

Oliseh is looking a bit frail in that picture ...

[Lolly]

Oliseh on Rufai

Oliseh is looking a bit frail in that picture ...

Ageing.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

This is huge blow to the Nigerian football family no matter how you look at it. We’ve now lost about 30% of the 94 team, all of whom died young. Rufai, Keshi, Yekini, Okafor,Agbonibare, Oliha. I know death is inevitable but having this number of pro athletes die before 60yrs is concerning. Gentle giant Uche is alive and well but he has changed citizenship and wants nothing to do with us. Where is Chidi Nwanu? Someone described Oliseh as frail but you can imagine what’s going on in his head having to bury another teammate.

There’s something wrong with our brand and we need to correct it. Everyone is saying RIP to Rufai but what happened to him? Did he get adequate treatment? What could have killed Rufai? We need help.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

well spoken.

Absolutely captivating. He put in the work, understudied those ahead and earned his spot. Nowadays, a Nom2 goalie at Remo who hardly gets any action is a SE goalie. What a disgrace! Rip and thanks for the memories.

[greg]

well spoken.

Absolutely captivating. He put in the work, understudied those ahead and earned his spot. Nowadays, a Nom2 goalie at Remo who hardly gets any action is a SE goalie. What a disgrace! Rip and thanks for the memories.

RIP Rufai. I still didn't get the Dodo part. Is that a Hausa word or something?

[ANC]

well spoken.

Absolutely captivating. He put in the work, understudied those ahead and earned his spot. Nowadays, a Nom2 goalie at Remo who hardly gets any action is a SE goalie. What a disgrace! Rip and thanks for the memories.

This is what may be wrong with the current crop of players, because it appears the previous sets started camping with the senior players at an earlier age before graduating to the senior team. Imagine the wealth of knowledge he would/could have passed on to the younger/current players if he had been part of the coaching staff. That's a lot of history lost there.

You do not know what u have, until ...gone.

[mastermind]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSqbTrgn/

Is this what is killing our athletes at an early age?

[Coach]

@M&M, for those of us who are not TikTokians, what’s the gist of this ground breaking research? Distrust of healthcare providers, superstitions, alternative therapies for chronic conditions and delayed presentation, play a major role in adverse outcomes amongst the black African diaspora. Would be interesting to know if this was an issue within the continent too.

Condolences to friends and family. For those of us so young as to be trading football stickers in the primary playground in ‘94, Rufai was a treasured swap. There weren’t many black goalkeepers known to young folk then. He made it less of stigma to be stuck between the sticks.

Rest well Legend, may your legacy live on in the deeds and doings of those sired and inspired.

[mcal]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMSqbTrgn/

Is this what is killing our athletes at an early age?

...types of intakes before, during and after exercises can after one's life and longevity.
Types medicinal, chemical enhancing stuff, and nutritional foods.
Here in America, many former football players die young some mostly due to anabolic drugs to help with strength during playing years.

[Ezesportsworld]

Rest in peace

[Rawlings]

One of Naija's best.
May he RIP
I did not know he was that young

[Donzman]

This is huge blow to the Nigerian football family no matter how you look at it. We’ve now lost about 30% of the 94 team, all of whom died young. Rufai, Keshi, Yekini, Okafor,Agbonibare, Oliha. I know death is inevitable but having this number of pro athletes die before 60yrs is concerning. Gentle giant Uche is alive and well but he has changed citizenship and wants nothing to do with us. Where is Chidi Nwanu? Someone described Oliseh as frail but you can imagine what’s going on in his head having to bury another teammate.

There’s something wrong with our brand and we need to correct it. Everyone is saying RIP to Rufai but what happened to him? Did he get adequate treatment? What could have killed Rufai? We need help.

What you are seeing is the typical life expectancy in Nigeria: around 54 years. Anything after that for someone in Nigeria is long life. Nigeria is a poor country with low life expectancy, which is why the disaster that is our political class infuriates me.

We have a long way to go.

May Peter Rufai Rest in Peace.

[Coach]

Poignant and precise. A few top ten chartings and social media insisted, weekends of hedonism and high price debauchery in the exception to the norm that is VI, and it’s assumed all the “streets are paved with gold”. A life expectancy of 54 years, if verifiable, is embarrassing by any modern standard. The health of a population is the wealth of a population. In the most naive, native should know this.

[Coach]

Poignant and precise. A few top ten chartings and social media insisted, weekends of hedonism and high price debauchery in the exception to the norm that is VI, and it’s assumed all the “streets are paved with gold”. A life expectancy of 54 years, if verifiable, is embarrassing by any modern standard. The health of a population is the wealth of a population. In the most naive, native should know this.

[mastermind]

Poignant and precise. A few top ten chartings and social media insisted, weekends of hedonism and high price debauchery in the exception to the norm that is VI, and it’s assumed all the “streets are paved with gold”. A life expectancy of 54 years, if verifiable, is embarrassing by any modern standard. The health of a population is the wealth of a population. In the most naive, native should know this.

In Algeria it's 77 yrs. This man might just be having a small headache and he's dead. Last time I went to Nigeria, most of my spouse and my extended families are gone. Our leaders are worse than our colonial masters for sure. They don't use the local hospitals so they don't care.

[Lolly]

This is huge blow to the Nigerian football family no matter how you look at it. We’ve now lost about 30% of the 94 team, all of whom died young. Rufai, Keshi, Yekini, Okafor,Agbonibare, Oliha. I know death is inevitable but having this number of pro athletes die before 60yrs is concerning. Gentle giant Uche is alive and well but he has changed citizenship and wants nothing to do with us. Where is Chidi Nwanu? Someone described Oliseh as frail but you can imagine what’s going on in his head having to bury another teammate.

There’s something wrong with our brand and we need to correct it. Everyone is saying RIP to Rufai but what happened to him? Did he get adequate treatment? What could have killed Rufai? We need help.

It appears he had heart disease. He was very gaunt in this last interview he did. Sad to see him looking like that. I don't want to post the video here.

[folem]

RiP Dodo Mayana.

[Toxicarrow]

Dodo Mayana!, by Segun Odegbami
Columns
July 5, 2025

It is Thursday night.

I am writing my article for the weekend.

My phone keeps interrupting me.

There is a flood of calls.

I have always known, but now it dawns on me again, that I am the go-to person by many Nigerians for confirmation of news (mostly of the sad type) concerning Nigerian athletes (mostly retired football players).

From the first caller, I now know why my phone has been ringing ceaselessly. People are calling to verify the sad news that another retired football hero has died.

I have not heard anything myself from any source, so I halt my writing and make a few calls.

The news is true.

‘Dodo Mayana’ passed on.

Once again, my heart is broken and very heavy. Oh no! Not Dodo, my good friend, my loyalist, the legendary Nigerian goalkeeper, Peter Rufai, aka ‘Dodo Mayana’.


Between us we always shared this story.

It was in 1979, or so. I scored a goal against him at the finals of an FA Cup played in the morning against Stationary Stores FC, at the National Stadium.

A last minute cross from Muda Lawal had found me my lurking right foot in the Stores’ defense. A gentle tap had caught Peter Rufai on the wrong foot as he sprawled and stretched furtively to stop the ball trickling into his goal. That ended the dream of the ‘Flaming Flamengoes’ to represent Nigeria in one of the African Club championships.

Peter’s performance on that day was sterling, stopping the deadliest frontline in Nigerian football at the time, comprising Owoblow, Muda Lawal, and ‘Mathematical’, until the dying minutes of the match. That performance earned the young and flamboyant Peter Rufai his invitation to the national team for the first time.

We became friends ever since.

Three weeks ago, I went to visit a friend who was hospitalized at the Federal Medical Centre in Ebute Metta, Lagos. Knowing who I was, some personnel at the hospital told me that Peter Rufai had been on admission for some time in the hospital but had been discharged a few days before; that he wanted his admission kept private, and that only very few persons were allowed to visit him because he did not want a public fuss.

I tried to reach him on phone several times after that but his lines were ‘dead’.

Peter’s death is an addition to a sad chapter in the story of Nigeria’s retired athletes, how most struggle to survive throughout their post-athletics careers; how they are often downed by ailments deriving from their sports exploits. The number of victims defy the logic that as athletes they should not suffer from the killer-diseases associated with an inactive lifestyle – heart related diseases like High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, and Obesity that strike silently and suddenly.

There is a serious need for research in Nigeria into why retired athletes die at relatively young ages as the evidence around me shows very clearly. The sports authorities do not seem to appreciate the magnitude and seriousness of the matter, so they do nothing!

In the first half of this year, very prominent sports heroes from the 1976 Olympic contingent and the 1980 African Cup of Nations squad have passed on, all of them from one deadly heart-related disease or the other – Moses Effiong (football), Charles Bassey (football), Obisia Nwakpa (boxing), and Christian Chukwu (football). https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/07/ode ... do-mayana/


I know of many others that are currently and quietly struggling and battling with their health conditions – Christopher Friday, Franklyn Howard, Henry Nwosu, Babatunde Obisanya, Emmanuel Okala, and so on.

The death of Peter Rufai, at 61, is very sad and very frustrating. Whilst commiserating with his family, friends, fans and stakeholders in the sports business in Nigeria, I am challenged to now do what I had always felt needed to be done but never did. Before then, however, there is this assignment.

Night of Tributes for ‘Chairman’ Chukwu and others.

A ‘Night of Tributes’ is being arranged for the 4 great Nigerian sports heroes, AirPeace Ambassadors, that died in the past 3 months.

This special evening will take place at the site of the ‘NIIA Sports and Diplomacy Wall of Fame’ in Lagos established 2 years ago by the NIIA in conjunction with AirPeace Airline that also funded the beautiful National monument.


On Monday, July 28th 2025, a high-profile evening of special tributes, celestial music and prayers (funded by Airpeace Airline) will be held to remember and celebrate the lives of Christian Chukwu, Charles Bassey and Obisia Nwakpa.

Although, Peter Rufai is not an official AirPeace Ambassador, he will also be celebrated for his service to Nigeria and to the game of football.

SOS Foundation!

In the next few weeks, with the Grace and Guidance of the Creator of the Universe, and deploying the Goodwill and Trust that I have enjoyed from the Nigerian public, I shall be seeking support from Nigerians to venture into this uncharted territory. I shall set up a Foundation with the mission to, amongst other things, conduct research into the lives of retired international athletes from various angles, document, chronicle and archive their lives, provide entrepreneurial skills programs for them, address their welfare issues and that of their dependents, design investment schemes for that will benefit them, and more.

That’s the next phase of my own life, against the penchant of stakeholders in sports to do nothing but lament. Being the harbinger of sad news when athletes pass on has become a burden for me, a psychologically dampening and exhausting exercise. There must be more than that for me to do into the twilight zone of my life.

[Toxicarrow]

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/06/mov ... -odegbami/
June 21, 2025

Move more, live longer, By Segun Odegbami

The killer in our midst!

A few days ago, Dolapo Gafar, a former cricketer and captain of the national Cricket team, died from heart attack.


Until his death, everyone around thought he was a healthy person at 49, still playing and coaching cricket.Unfortunately, like 70 per cent of all adult Nigerians above 40 years of age, he was managing High Blood Pressure, one of the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) that have been ravaging Nigerians.




The statistics are frightening and mind boggling – over 100 million Nigerians are afflicted with High Blood Pressure (HBP) disease. I am a member of that ‘legion’.I have been a certified, full-blooded patient of HBP for over 10 years, sentenced for the rest of my life to a daily dose of two expensive medications with terrible side effects, including decreased libido and partial impotency.

HBP is a psychologically depressing disease, the single biggest killer of people in Nigeria.

I was appointed African Ambassador for NCD (Global Alliance) because I was considered a role model. It was all optics. Beyond my exterior look of impeccable good health and good living, despite modifying my lifestyle, trying to eat better, exercising more, taking life easier, spending a lot of time outdoors and laughing a lot more, I have been condemned to taking medication for the rest of my life! I still don’t know why this is the case, but it is as serious as that.

Yet, I count myself lucky to be alive and relatively healthy to tell this story, and to be an advocate for change of attitude by governments, the people and relevant agencies to Non-Communicable diseases like Diabetes, Obesity and some Cancers in our society.In my constituency of Sport where it would ordinarily be imagined that we are generally immune from the vagaries of these diseases, havoc on our lives is still being silently wreaked.

In the past six months, three of my colleagues in the 1980 African Cup of Nations squad that won the Championship have passed on, all of them as a result of heart-related diseases.

Before that, the history of Nigerian sports is littered with the stories of athletes (active and retired) that died from heart-related diseases. They include Muda Lawal, Moses Otolorin, Tunde Bamidele, Ismaila Mabo, Kunle Awesu, Stephen Keshi, Shaibu Amodu, Samuel Okwaraji, Sunday Bada, Obisia Nwankpa, Jeremiah Okorodudu, and a whole legion of others.

Unfortunately, NCDs are no respecter of persons or their status. They don’t also manifest until damage is being done. One in four ordinary persons walking on the street is a carrier of one of these diseases. Yet, not much is being said, or done, or even discussed in government or in public places to create adequate awareness, enough to secure the support needed to curtail the rampaging scourge.


Yet, another aspect.Imagine the magnitude of the pharmaceutical industry behind treating a disease such as High Blood Pressure.

Related News
Dodo Mayana!, by Segun Odegbami
ODEGBAMI: Dodo Mayana!
That the world may never forget...! NIIA Wall of fame 27/06, by Segun Odegbami
With the rate of consumption and population of life-time consumers of the medications, manufacturers and marketers will be smiling to the banks for life. With such an incentive, beneficiaries will not want a solution that will truncate, probably, the biggest industry in the world.

Conspiracy theorists ask if the pharmaceutical industry is not deliberately working against the global solution to NCDs. The answer is blowing in the wind.

The situation in Nigeria defies ordinary comprehension. With the alarming figures revealed above, is it not reasonable that the Federal and State governments will invest heavily in research, public awareness, preventive measures and even in the local pharmaceutical industries? Is it not reasonable that the governments will do with NCDs what they did in the 1940s and 1950s with Malaria when they invested heavily in medical centres, training of doctors and nurses, and preventive measures that included giving free, weekly medication to children in schools?

That’s how the Malaria epidemic was tackled and managed.Fifteen years ago in Osun State, for example, in one General hospital alone, there were over 200 trained nurses and about 30 doctors. Today, there are less than 10 nurses and five full-time doctors. This is replicated everywhere in the country.


The brain drain in the medical field is a one-way street to foreign lands. It has compounded the challenges. So, the people are dying amidst deafening silence of the devastation being caused by NCDs, particularly High Blood Pressure in Nigeria.

One organisation doing some tangible things to create awareness, the Nigerian Heart Foundation, NHF, established 33 years ago, is handicapped by a lack of adequate funds, and the absence of serious support by governments, the private sector and other responsible agencies.

The NHF’s effort, commendable as it has been, remains a drop in the ocean.

Everyone knows the Siamese relationship between Sport and health, hence it is no rocket science that Sport will play a big role in the research, prevention, treatment and publicity of Non-Communicable diseases.

There is the misconception that as athletes our demography will enjoy special immunity from the vagaries of NCDs. Far from it.


Yes, as active athletes, we keep fit, live regimented lives, eat recommended meals, and are tested from time to time, yet we, also, fall occasional victims of sudden death on and off the fields and courts. The Samuel Okwaraji incident of 1992, when the young lawyer slumped and died on the field of play during a World Cup qualifying match against Angola, is a good example. Investigation into such an uncommon incident continues till now.

Since then, there have been other cases even if they have been few. The issue of retired athletes takes a slightly different direction. For some inexplicable reason, many of them have died at relatively young ages as a result of heart-related diseases.

There is a general need for the country to address the matter of NCDs more seriously. Supporting the work of the NHF is critical. Creating more awareness, addressing the issues of healthy eating and lifestyle, creating environments that will make people to be physically more active, setting up more specialist center’s for the research and treatment of NCDs, investing in the domestic manufacturing of the medications, training and recruiting more medical personnel (doctors and nurses) for the general hospitals, and devoting more attention to easing the pressures of life on the people, will help mitigate against the effect of NCDs on Nigerians.

In September 2025, the United Nations will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of World Heart Day. There shall be a high level global summit for Heads of States, health ministers, national heart federations and foundations, and so on. Nigeria will be participating in the celebrations either in Abuja or Lagos. It will be an excellent opportunity to create massive awareness for NCDs and their devastating effect on our people, and to start to change mindsets, understandings and attitudes.

Finally, the average Nigerian deserves to live well and to live long. It is a tough call to achieve both in the present climate of ignorance. Nigeria must embark on a massive campaign now.


As a sports man, however, my humble advise to everyone is to (for short intervals every day) set aside the phone or computer, get off the couch or the bed, turn off the television set, leave indoors and venture outdoors, and start ‘Moving the body, on the journey to living a longer life.’

Vanguard News