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| Nigeria's foremost soccer striker Rashidi Yekini |
Accounts from neighbours and associates paint a picture of a man who
struggled with serious mental and delusional disorder after losing life
savings to a bungled investment.
One neighbour spoke of his losing life savings to a sham investment,
and another recalled seeing him frequently around women selling Bóle
(roasted plantain); and on two occasions he answered nature’s call by a
roadside in Ibadan where he lived away his final days.
Then, a former teammate conjectured how a disheartening jeering from
fans during a crucial match that turned out his last international
showing, haunted him to a bitter end.
Those who met Rashidi Yekini within the last one year say at least
one of those episodes played a role in his unexpected death last week.
“I guess he died of depression,” one neighbour said.
But after agonizing years in his own world, only in death would the
former striker, who almost singlehandedly served Nigeria vital football
wins, evoke such complex tales that offer a glimpse into a personal
struggle with insecurity and despair, again pointing out the question of
whether the authorities or even friends could have been helpful in
saving the former superstar.
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| Yekini lie -In-State shortly before his burial in a decrepit bed in Irrah, Kwara State |
A day after his funeral in his Irra town in Offa, Kwara state, the
talk in this local community remained the sad exit of one of their
prominent sons whose achievements as Nigeria’s most prolific scorer has
not been equalled yet.
“We tried all that we can do in our own capacity but the cruel hands
of death still took him away from us. We only hope and pray for eternal
rest for his soul,” said Mohamodu Mudasiru Adetunji ( the Esa of
Irra), who was also Mr. Yekini’s uncle.
For much of his playing days, dating back to an active international
career in which he netted 37 goals in 58 matches, Yekini worked hard to
stay off the prying eyes of the media.
The line, “his games spoke for him”, came true.
But that seemingly evasiveness would eventually help conceal a fatal
and terminal trouble that afflicted Yekini for more than five years,
those who were close to him said.
“We all loved him but for reasons I can't explain he did not want to
socialize with people a reason I feel had effects on him on the long
run,” said Dimeji Lawal, a former youth international who lives in
Ibadan, and knew Yekini for many years.
“We would have loved to help Yekini in our little way but until his
last days, he wasn't really accessible.” Mr. Lawal described Yekini as a
philanthropist who did all in his power to help the course of others.
After retiring from international and club football, Yekini led a
low profile life in Ibadan, living in a four bedroom apartment on Ring
road, reports say, away from his family who stayed in his hometown in
Kwara state.
Accounts from neighbours and associates paint a picture of a man who
struggled with serious mental and delusional disorder after losing life
savings to a bungled investment.
One neigbour, who claimed to have known the ex-international well
over a decade, traced the problems to a deal between Yekini and a
confidant known only as Ibraheem.
“He has always been a quiet person who does not want attention on him,” the neighbour, who refused to be named, said.
“But for me, Yekini started losing his mind and began behaving
erratically due to his loss of huge sum of money to the death of his
only confidant and business partner, Ibraheem, who ran a bureau de
change in Sabo Area of Ibadan.”
According to the neighbour, Mr. Yekini liquidated all his savings
and turned them to cash which he transferred to Ibraheem for his foreign
exchange and jewelry trade.
Ibraheem was gunned down by armed robbers after receiving a tip-off
that he was to transact a huge amount that day and the robbers made away
with the bulk of the capital which belonged to Yekini.
Barely without any savings left, that incident will prove a turning
point in the former soccer star’s life, and will lead him through a
bitter struggle that ended in death last week, the neighbour said. For
Yekini, the experience added boost to his decision to lead an isolated
life.
“He preferred to be on his own, believing Ibraheem’s death was the handiwork of wicked rivals,” the neighbour said.
Before his death, all his automobiles were in a state of disrepair
and many times he was seen trekking in shorts in different parts of the
city.
Many of such outings, another former neighbour, Mukaila Babalola
said, led Yekini to stalls where women sold roasted plantains(bole) on
Onireke road near Multichoice office in Ibadan.
“Always in short but not sport trousers,” said Babalola, who claimed
to have seen Yekini regularly the past two to three years. “I remember
reversing my car upon sighting him soliloquizing along Golf club area
last year. I greeted him but he answered reluctantly.”
But that was not all. Twice, Babalola who described the locations he
often sighted Yekini as “pathetic”, saw the former Super Eagles striker
emerging from road side bush, with left over paper squeezed in his
palm, after easing his bowels around Sabo and Aleshinloye Market in
Ibadan.
A pathetic story it appears for this legendary striker. But other
tales by colleagues and those Yekini thrilled with his superlative
skills underlined a glorious reign of a man that proved one of the best
in football, winning accolades home and away.
On his website, former teammate and defensive midfielder, Sunday
Oliseh, called Yekini “one of the best African players and legends to
ever walk this earth.”
But Oliseh reckoned that somehow a world cup match in which Yekini
featured and was booed by fans as he was nearing retirement played a
devastating role in the former striker’s end.
“Yekini felt betrayed and this haunted him till his death,” Oliseh
wrote. “How could one give so much and receive so little in return from
your own kind?” he asked.
More than that possibly haunted Yekini. Oliseh recalls the Super
Eagles’ African nations’ cup triumph of 1994 in which Yekini played a
key role, and winning the vital matches for Nigeria.
“Almost 20 years after this major conquest, Yekini is yet to receive
the house the Nigerian government promised him,” Oliseh said.
“In other words, he died not being rewarded for his efforts to make Nigeria great.”
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