Peter Rufai Collasped

Former goalkeeper of the Nigeria’s Super Eagles, on Monday night slumped in his office in Surulere area of Lagos.

P.M.NEWS can report that Rufai, popularly called ‘Dodo Mayana’ in his days in the Eagles was having a late night meeting with the senior staff of his Staruf Sports Development Limited when he complained of dizziness and left the meeting for few minutes. But as he was returning to take his seat, he suddenly slumped. He was quickly attended to by people around but when it was discovered that it was more serious than they thought, he was rushed to Toki Hospital, off Adeniran Ogunsanya where he has been since yesterday night.

Sports Officer of  Staruf Sports Development Limited, Kingsley Ezekwem who confirmed the incident to P.M.NEWS early today, said that “it’s true that Dodo Mayana was hospitalised since last night. The incident happened while we were having a meeting. When we took him to the hospital, the doctor said that he might have passed through a lot of stressful moments in the last few days. Rufai just lost his 78-year-old mother and coupled with the pressure of the job here, it’s been a lot stressful for him.”

Kingsley, however, said that the former Stationery Stores F.C. and Femo Scorpions star is responding to treatment positively at the hospital. “There is no cause for alarm; we thank God that he is responding well to treatment. He has been talking to people now. We appreciate the concerns of Nigerians,” he said.

Rufai, 49, who played for Nigeria between 1983 and 1998, returned to the country from his base in Europe to start a youth sports development programme. He had 65 international caps for the Eagles, according to his Wikipedia entry. His mother, Christiana, died last week, leaving him devastated.