Rashidi Yekini’s Children Want Inquest 4 Years After Father’s Death
Yekini died on May 4, 2012, at the age of 48.
The
family said the circumstances of his death were unclear, for his two
daughters, it has been difficult moving on without the exact knowledge
of the cause of their father’s death.
“There
is no concrete thing to say this is how he died, it is difficult; you
cannot move on until you truly know that this is how he died,” the first
daughter, Yemisi, said at a press conference in Lagos.
“Your
father has just passed away, you ask your mother how he died and she
says I don’t know how he died; I think that is the worst thing that can
happen to someone,” she said.
“You
don’t know whether he was killed, or he was drugged, or he was ill;
there are no answers, so I will like there to be an inquisition.”
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| Rashidi Yekini celebrates after scoring Nigeria's first World Cup goal in USA 1994 |
Yemisi,
who is schooling at Leicester City in the UK, expressed disappointment
that the relevant authorities never considered investigating Yekini’s
death.
“I
requested it from the moment he died but as a 17-year-old girl if I say
mum, I want the police to investigate this, nobody is going to listen
to me. But come to think of it, do I really have to ask before this is
done. If everyone is saying Rashidi Yekini was a great footballer, he is
a superstar, if he is this … he is that, why do we need to ask, why is
there not one, why can Nigeria not just take this up and investigate,”
Yemisi queried.
The
daughters vowed to do all within their ability to immortalise their
late father, appealing to everyone to join hands with them to keep the
memories of the goals king alive.
One
of the things the family considered to do first, is to convert Yekini’s
home into a museum and also organise a befitting testimonial match for
him in the years ahead.
Yemisi
and Omoyemi said they hoped to use Yekini’s Ibadan house to honour
their father, even though most of the laurels Yekini won as a player
were allegedly carted away from the house by family members just before
he died.
“I
and Omoyemi come from a great home; we both have great mothers and a
great father, so we are not money-hungry children. We are not here to
sell the house or get the money. What we both want is the house in
Ibadan, which we (with Omoyemi) shared with our father. That is the one
we want,” Yemisi hinted.
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| Yekini died on May 4, 2012, at the age of 48. |
“We
are not bothered about the money; we’ve been able to look after
ourselves. I had the idea of turning his house in Ibadan to a museum.
Mr. Olanrewaju Jibril (Yekini’s lawyer) told me that when he went to the
house, everything was gone: all his trophies, his pictures, awards all
gone. And that’s very sad because that’s something we would have used to
remember our father,” she added.
However,
Yekini’s lawyer, Jibril Olanrewaju, said there was pressure from the
late footballer’s family to sell the house in Ibadan.
Family
members allegedly abducted the 1994 African Player of the Year few days
before his death, claiming he was mentally unstable, and carted away
his property.
Mr.
Olanrewaju assured that Yemisi and Omoyemi had the right to possess the
property of their father in Ibadan, adding that the children were also
planning a testimonial game for their father.
Mr.
Olanrewaju said, “For now, they can (possess the house). When someone
dies without a will, usually, you collect a letter of administration and
because the property belongs to them, the two mothers are the
administrators to manage the estate.
“We
got the letter from the Registry of the High Court of Oyo State in
December. Legally they (Yekini’s children) are in actual possession,
though there is pressure from the family to get the house sold. But I
have been persistently blocking them from doing that.
“The
kids told me that they are not happy that their dad didn’t have a
testimonial match before he died and that they would want to do that in
his honour. They want a platform with which they can do that. They also
want most of what their dad lived for, generosity and charity work, to
continue.”
Source: Premium Times
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