A former Nigerian footballer, now turned pastor, has found himself the butt of jokes after predicting President Donald Trump would win the United States of America’s presidential election.
Pastor Taribo West, who played for Auxerre, Inter Milan and AC Milan in his heydays as a defender, had predicted before the election the Trump would trump the acclaimed winner Joe Biden by a slim margin.
A footage of the prediction was shared on social media prior to the election. But with Biden winning and Trump heading to court to get the victory overturned, the video of the man of the cloth making the prediction have resurfaced and Nigerian have taken to Twitter to mock the former Super Eagles’ central defender.
In the video, Taribo West said he rightly predicted two recent election in the West African nation – the Ondo and Edo governorship poll won by Rotimi Akeredolu and Godwin Obaseki respectively- but his prophecy did not go viral on social media.
He subsequently prophesied that Trump would defeat Biden by a slim margin and asked his supporters to ensure that his prophecy goes viral.
He said, “Before the election in Edo, I said Obaseki would win. Is that true? Did he win? Nobody said it anywhere. Nobody quoted me anywhere. I also said in the Ondo election that Akeredolu would win. Is that true? Did he win? He won.
“Now I want you to put this out the way I want it. Donald Trump will win the election by a slight split edge over Joe Biden. So quote me and I want it to be out before time.”
However, Biden went on to win the election which is now being challenged in court by Trump.
West’s prophecy, however, became a huge subject of debate on social media on Tuesday with many describing him as a false prophet.
@M4micheal tweeted, “He predicted and made it look like God was speaking through him. If Trump had won, his prediction would’ve been right and he would’ve told his congregation that God did it, but God isn’t an author of confusion.”
@infonaija_247, “No, this cannot be Pastor Taribo West, former Super Eagles of Nigeria no nonsense defender. This must be Taribo North.”
“The quest for fame and cheap popularity will make men pride in themselves,” tweeted @amablacknaija.
@mykkel3, “One thing I know about this wrong prophecy was that he wanted to glorify himself after the first two corrected ones, that was why he needed a camera to put it on social media….He forgot that he is not God.”
However, some others argued that it could be too soon to tell if the ex-footballer’s prophecy was false since Trump could prevail in court.
Mazi Oji tweeted, “Is it possible this is coming to pass. With some news flying around (possibly fake though), there are reports of malpractice and all that… That Trump is heading to court. So it is still possible this happens.”
@iam_vicbach, “There are still chances that Trump will win. This is not Nigeria’s election.”