ABOUT THE BABY BORN WITH MINI-KORAN

     The divergent views about the baby born with Koran is now being taken as a religious superiority by some Muslims as some Christians are now going round telling people who care to listening that the child is an Anti-Christ! Our problem as Africans is that we never weigh the pros and cons of issues before we start jumping into conclusion. We never examine things objectively.

    The birth of this baby has filled the missing gap in the question of whose God is God, the Christians’ or Muslims’. Why did this miracle boy come to this world with Koran inside the church where he was delivered? It simply means that God, Allah or Jehovah is one and indivisible!

  The birth of the boy [who was later christened Wahab Iyanda Irawo] is nothing but a proof that God really exists in churches [like mosques] and Koran[like Bible] is a book from him. He does His things in special ways. The pastor herself confirmed this fact. The allegedly-absconded father of the baby, Abolore Irawo came back to deny the fact that he ran away  as he gave his own excuse for not being around for a long time after a lot of people had condemned his action. The vital detailed of his romance with Kikelomo Ilori, the mother of the baby, before the conception of the baby was not  given as this remains their ‘family’ matter.

   The midwife who handled the delivery of the baby, Victoria Moses said that when the mother was brought to her church, she complained of waist pains and was told to relax as it was normal before delivery. She said she did this to calm the already scared woman who had attempted to terminate the pregnancy if not for the fact that the nurse said that the blood had already formed and any further attempt would be suicidal as well as homicidal.

   The event that followed the power interruption by PHCN during delivery was also interesting. She [pastor] first noticed that the baby was clutching something nobody had any idea of and an attempt to check it was interrupted by power outage. She took it for blood cot and never bothers to further check it.  When the power was restored, she discovered that it was a mini-Koran! She said she attempted to throw it away but Kikelomo said her mother must see it.

   Kikelomo’s home at 112 Olateju street, Mushin has been a Mecca of sort since as everybody wants to catch a glimpse of this miracle child. There have been a lot of arguments over this matter and I don’t think this sentiment about the whole issue can change the fact the God has a way of doing His things. He does not have any religion but He favours and answers the faithful! He forbids us from worshiping idols. The manner in which this boy was born shows that God is one and the two religions are just the optional path to meeting Him!      

    

RASHIDI YEKINI: GONE WITH THE GOALS!

                                

     We used to trust him with ball. He never disappointed us. I  remember vividly the quarter final match of the 1994 African Cup of Nations when we met Zaire-now Congo Democratic Republic-when Yekini faced the keeper one-on-one and the keeper had no choice but to grab Yekini’s leg like it was a wrestling match. The keeper cried out of the pitch when he was eventually given a direct red card by the referee. That was how dreaded Rashidi was in the 90s-a nightmare to any defender or goalkeeper!

   That was one of the tournaments that made Rashidi Yekini a household name in football then. We believed and trusted him to the extent that when I heard that he scored 37 goals out of his 58 appearances for Nigeria, I had no choice but to ask why 37 because I thought his goal was up to a million!

  That he never had a stable marriage is also another thing that baffles me. I so much liked this man to the extent that I never bother to know a little about his private life. Maybe because we were young those days and we never had access to IT and social media network like teenagers these days. I later found out that he had four daughters from four women. THE Ivorian woman who had Suliat that looked very much like him [he initially denied being the father]; Mariam from a Princess Adeola from Oshogbo; Sintiat from a woman in London and Zainab from another woman. The road to fame and riches is always full of thorns. Whatever caused this marriage instability was personal and shouldn’t be linked with his alleged psychological trauma which many people attached to his ‘madness’. Every being [rich or poor, black or white] that wears shoe knows where it pinches him/her.

  On the allegation of gang-up against him in the then Super Eagles camp in the 90s, some of his colleagues have come out to debunk that ‘rumuor’ but I don’t always believe in praises and denials especially after the witness is dead. The reason is that in Africa, we always praise dead people and avoid saying something to implicate ourselves. It is natural to believe that there was something similar to conspiracy to stop ‘feeding’ him with passes that he could convert to goals because he seemed to be the only player taking all the credits. The Keshi and Amokachi’s connection shouldn’t be ruled out after all they were the brain behind politics of Abacha ‘boys’ versus others. We are eagerly waiting for the time when one of them will come out and express to the public bold all that jars!

    Every human being must experience a ‘peak’ period and also ‘diminishing return’ in his entire life and career. Little wonder why his career was out of track at Olympiacos FC after scoring 34 goals in 32 his matches at Victorial Setubal. He also had a failed attempt top get his career back on track by joining Sporting de Gijon, Athletico Bizertin and Al-Shabab Riyadh and later rejoining African Sports. He hung boot at 41 and life did not remain the same again.

   He started living alone and was rumoured to walk the street of Ibadan with bathroom slippers. His business associate, one Ibraheem who ran a bureau de change in Sabo area of Ibadan, was attacked in killed in cold blood by armed robbers while transacting a huge amount on a fateful day. Rashidi thus losy everything he could have fallen back on. 

 Yekini remains an immortal hero even as he is no more with us physically. Spiritually, he will always be with us. His first ever Nigeria World Cup goal is a brand till today.The most interesting part of it is his celebration style of holding the net. Many cartoonists have made him tear the net apart on many pages of newspapers!