AFCON 2025: Ghanaian Referee Deactivates Instagram Account After Attack From Nigerians
- Ghanaian referee Daniel Nii Ayi Laryea has deactivated his Instagram page after an online attack from Nigerians
- Laryea officiated the Super Eagles of Nigeria's 2025 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final loss to the host nation, Morocco
- He made what many call questionable decisions, one of which was booking Calvin Bassey, thus ending his AFCON campaign
Ghanaian referee Daniel Nii Ayi Laryea has deactivated his Instagram account after Nigerians targeted his page with online abuse.
Laryea officiated the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations semi-final clash between Nigeria and Morocco, which the Super Eagles lost 4-2 on penalties.
Source: Getty Images
Nigerians were displeased at his officiating, citing questionable refereeing from Laryea, particularly Calvin Bassey’s yellow card, which ruled him out of the third-place match, as confirmed by CAF.
There were already concerns over CAF appointing a Ghanaian referee with a questionable officiating record at the tournament for such a high-stakes match.
Laryea deactivates Instagram account
Nigerians fished out the referee’s social media handles, particularly his X and Instagram pages and voiced their displeasure at his officiating.
As spotted by daveplay blogger, his Instagram page @daniel.n.laryea, which had over 2,000 followers and 101 posts at the last account, no longer exists.
There were claims that Nigerians reported the page, but it looked more like a deliberate deactivation by the owner to prevent further attacks.
The deactivation did not stop Nigerians from expressing their opinions and frustration, particularly with his X account still up and running.
@Omojuwa wrote:
“The officiating was atrocious. I hope that the referee seeks a different professional path from being a judge at anything that requires fairness. Whoever gets him to administer a game at this level in the future has no intention to be fair.”
@Real1_Balogun wrote:
“Those referees that make multiple 50-50 calls against you. They’re worse than the blatantly biased ones. They’ll appear in control and just but those decisions kill rhythm. One team is encouraged to fall after every touch, while the other is discouraged to go into tackles with full charge. It affects you badly. First, your mind. You second-guess actions.”
Source: Getty Images
@ColinUdoh wrote:
“Here is the thing about that referee’s performance. It wasn’t responsible for anything really egregious - barring that Bassey yellow card - but the cumulative nature of those little niggly calls meant it broke up Nigeria’s rhythm enough and in a way that ensured that in a game that was ultimately one of very small margins, they could not win except by some rare, lucky chance.”
Bright Osayi-Samuel slams Daniel Laryea
Super Eagles defender Bright Osayi-Samuel did not hold back his words about the referee, describing him as appalling in his decision-making.
“One thing I will say is the referee was appalling, not saying that’s the reason why we lost, but just making very wrong decisions, and it’s really painful to see that we have refs like that in a big game like today,” he told Dr Ademola TV.
As noted by the NFF, Nigeria will face Egypt in the third-place match at the Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca on Saturday, January 17, 2026.
Read also
AFCON: Do2dtun fumes, accuses Ghanaian referee of ‘sabotaging’ Super Eagles against Morocco
NFF reacts to Laryea’s appointment
Legit.ng previously reported that NFF reacted to Daniel Laryea's appointment, urging Nigerians to remain calm and not worry about a possible manipulative officiating.
However, Nigerians’ fears came to pass, and the NFF President Ibrahim Gusau, who commented on the appointment, was left with egg on his face.
Proofreading by Omoleye Omoruyi, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
