Image of Nwabali with homeless US driver, AI-generated

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Amarachi Onwuzulike

Claim: A Facebook user shared an image claiming Super Eagles goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali bought a brand-new taxi and paid for accommodation for a homeless taxi driver he met in the United States.

Verdict:  False. The Image showing Nwabali hugging a white man, supposedly the taxi driver, is AI-generated. News reports also revealed Nwabali was not in the US at the time.

Full Text

Stanley Nwabili is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Nigeria national football team. He gained national and international recognition following his impressive performances during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, where he played a key role in helping the Nigerian team secure a bronze medal.

On Feb. 22, 2026, a Facebook blog, Music Based Africa (archive here), shared images of Nwabali claiming he helped a white taxi driver during a visit to the United States (US). The post contained three images: two of Nwabali alone and one of him with a white man, allegedly the taxi driver.

According to the post’s caption, Nwabali allegedly met a taxi driver who had previously picked him up from the airport, but later became homeless after being robbed. 

The post further claimed that the footballer bought the man a brand-new taxi and helped him secure accommodation.

Due to Nwabali’s popularity following his performances for Nigeria, the claim quickly spread across Facebook and went viral.

As of Mar. 13, 2026, the post had gathered over 24,000 likes, 1,400 comments, and 612 shares. 

Many users in the comment section appeared to believe the claim and praised the footballer for the alleged act of kindness.

For example, Stanley Onukwube wrote, “Stanley is a good name, people with an endowed charity mind set is called Stanley. Stanley is a good name, abeg.”

However, some users expressed doubt. Agbo Emmanuel mocked the blogger, commenting, “Is Nwabili aware that he helped this homeless and stranded driver?”

The conflicting opinions on the image’s authenticity and the claim’s potential to mislead the public prompted DUBAWA to fact-check the claim. 

Verification 

DUBAWA conducted keyword searches to find credible news reports confirming whether Stanley Nwabali had indeed helped a taxi driver in the US as claimed. 

However, no reputable Nigerian or international media organisation has reported such an event.

We also conducted a reverse image search on the images attached to the viral post and found that they had previously appeared on here, here, here, and here, sharing the same unverified narrative.

We conducted another keyword search to determine whether Nwabali had travelled to the US around the period the claim surfaced. The search results only returned news reports about his departure from Chippa United, with no credible reports placing him in the US or confirming any meeting with a taxi driver.

Further checks of Nwabali’s verified X and Instagram accounts showed no record of the alleged act of kindness or any mention of such a humanitarian gesture. 

His last post was made before the claim on Feb. 5, 2026, with no reference to any trip to the US.

Finally, DUBAWA subjected the image showing Nwabali hugging the alleged taxi driver to open-source Artificial Intelligence (AI) detection tools. 

We first used TruthScan, which indicated a high probability that the image was AI-generated, with a confidence score of 71%. 

We also analysed the image using AIorNot, another AI-detection tool. The analysis similarly suggested that the image may have been AI-generated or manipulated, as it shows signs consistent with deepfake or AI-generated imagery.

Conclusion

The claim that Stanley Nwabali bought a taxi driver a new car and secured him accommodation in the US is false. The image used to support the claim is AI-generated, and there is no official statement or reliable media report to confirm the claim.