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!