Popular British tabloid Daily Star has apologised to Nigerian-born footballer Dele Adebola for publishing an article linking him with the deadly Ebola Virus Disease.

Ebola was imported into Nigeria in late July this year by late Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer but has since been wiped out by Africa’s largest economy – as confirmed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is not clear if Adebola visited Nigeria during the Ebola days.

In a short story published today with Adebola’s photo, Daily Star wrote:

‘Dele Adebola – Correction

‘In an article published on 10 October 2014 entitled “Former Birmingham City star Dele Adebola: I DO NOT have Ebola” we reported that Dele Adebola had been forced to take to Twitter to deny that he had the Ebola virus, following a barrage of messages expressing concern about his health because of his surname.

‘We have been advised that the tweet was not made by Mr Adebola, but by someone that is impersonating him on Twitter.

‘We apologise for any confusion the article may have caused and are happy to set the record straight.’

•Photo shows Dele Adebola.