After Wednesday night’s heroics to help Nigeria book a place in the final of the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON), three altered photographs of Super Eagles goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali have gone viral on social media.
Nwabali, who plays for Chippa United in the South African league, was the hero when Nigeria beat the Bafana Bafana boys in the semi-final of the 2023 AFCON. Nigeria will play the hosts Ivory Coast on Sunday, February 11 at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan.
The victory over South Africa culminated in wide celebrations from Nigerians and supporters of the Super Eagles across the world. Social media was the convergence point for all Nigerian fans after the match.
Amid thousands of social media posts celebrating Nigeria’s win, a photograph of Nwabali and a supposed wife is being shared by many accounts.
However, our checks revealed that the photographs in the posts indeed belonged to Nwabali but were altered to fit the lady being paraded as his wife.
One of the posts captioned “Nwabali’s wife shows off her husband” with a warning “KEEP OFF ” has garnered about 8,000 engagements and over half a million views on Twitter. The post is archived here.
The post, made by popular sports journalist Pooja features a screenshot of a Facebook post by Amanda Chisom Page.
Our findings revealed that the original versions of the three photographs had only Nwabali.
The Super Eagles goalkeeper posted the first photograph on Instagram on Sunday, July 1, 2023. The post is archived here.
View this post on Instagram
The second photograph was posted on Monday, January 1, 2024. It is archived here. Nwabali posted the third photograph Tuesday, January 2, 2024.
View this post on Instagram
The third photo was published in July 2023. It is archived here.
He was alone in all the pictures.
The author of the Facebook post later said the initial claim was a joke. The post is archived here.
