The call by the Kwara state House of Assembly last week for the immortalisation of Rashidi Yekini four years after his passage may be belated. Nevertheless, it is necessary in keeping to the time-honoured adage that “It is better late than never”. The call was made on the floor of the House by the House Leader, Hon. Hassan Oyeleke, at its sitting last Tuesday on the fourth anniversary of the demise of the football legend.
Other members of the House, in their contributions, extolled the sterling qualities of the late soccer icon and his outstanding contributions to the game which projected the image of the country positively to the outside world.
They recalled with regret an online report on the mother of the late soccer immortal who now sells bread in Ilorin for survival and urged the government to come to her aid and other members of his family.
The late football idol died on May 4, 2012 in a mysterious circumstance. There were all kinds of stories narrated about his health condition a couple of years before his death. Recurring among them was his mental state as evidenced by his roaming the streets barefoot and loitering around the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, where he chose to live after retiring from active football. Indication that Rashidi’s fortunes were on the decline was when he returned to the domestic league after his exploits in Europe.
Rashidi’s travails were said to have begun after a failed business deal with a close friend. The late football icon had turned all his assets into raw cash and handed it over to the friend, a bureau de change operator. Unfortunately, the friend was shot dead by armed robbers. With his life-time investment gone, the football legend became paranoid, believing that the tragedy that befell his friend was the handiwork of his enemies. An extrovert by nature, he withdrew to himself and shut out his immediate and extended family members.
About a year before the death of the soccer maestro, attempts were made by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to arrest the sad development. It requested Mr. Mutiu Adepoju, who was his contemporary in the Super Eagles, to furnish it with information about his plight. Unfortunately, nothing positive came out of the federation’s efforts.
It is sad that the soccer hero died the way he did after descending from grace to grass, but not the grass upon which he plied his trade and made name and fortunes. His record as the highest goal scorer at the international level (37 in 58 appearances), has not been broken till date. Nigeria’s first World Cup goal which he scored at the USA ’94 is immortal.
But Rashidi’s case is not the only sad commentary on our soccer history. Twenty-three years before his passage, Nigerian football suffered a tragedy when Dr. Sam Tochukwu Okwaraji slumped at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, during the 1990 World Cup qualifier match with Angola. Okwaraji had defied his club’s order to honour the national call and flew into the country, looking hale and hearty until the disaster struck at the peak of the pulsating encounter. He was rushed to the nearby hospital where he was certified dead on arrival. The late medical doctor was not just a Super Eagle but a patriotic Nigerian who, on many occasions, flew into the country at his own expense to don the national colours. He did not bother anyone for refunds, whereas some of his mates would insist on being paid some entitlements as a pre-condition for picking their shirts.
Successive federal administrations have not deemed it fit to immortalise him or remember his immediate family especially his aged mother who has been toiling to survive after losing their breadwinner. The only monument in his memory is a miserable-looking, weather-beaten bust erected at the National Stadium, Lagos.
Rashidi brought fame and honour to this country during his international career that spanned about a decade and a half. His football peregrinations came to an apogee in 1994 when he helped Nigeria to win the Nations Cup and was crowned as the African Footballer of the Year that year.
The house gift promised him by the federal government along with his team mates was not redeemed until he passed on 22 years after.
We commend the resolution of the Kwara House of Assembly calling for his immortalisation by the state government. In addition to that, we urge the state government to impress on the federal government to redeem its promise, failing which the state should do something on its own for the family of the late soccer icon. The poor living condition of his aged mother remains a constant reminder of the pathetic life he led a couple of years before his demise.
