RIP Rashidi Yekini

awesome player, first such of his generation to go maybe?

http://lagos360.com/headlines/39/rashidi-yekini-is-dead/

http://u.goal.com/183900/183955hp2.jpg

iconic moment. seeing he died of some kind of bipolar/schizo/neuro thing, the extravert emotions in this pic almost seem 'logical'

id guess that means 'suicide'

Did you forcefully take him to herbalists in Ibadan during his ordeal?
I did not take my son to (any) herbalists, I only called some Islamic leaders to pray for him as what was wrong with him will never come out from my mouth as it would be disastrous for me as a mother.

Why did you not take him to the hospital for proper recommendation and care?
We took him there, but he left angrily and locked himself up in his room for two days.

Was your son healed by your attempts to help him spiritually before he died?
No, he died in the struggle.

Olarenwaju’s book also gives insight to how the gangling star was killed. He reveals that after about three failed attempts to kidnap him, his captor adopted a gimmick to confuse the whole world that Yekini was insane. Several other allegations were peddled against him; others said he was broke or he was doling out money to people. Another version attributed his sanity to the collapse of his marriage to Kemi, one of his wives because he actually had five wives and many concubines with two children.

The book states that although Yekini truly had rough times at a point when he used to look really shabby, but it wasn’t because he was mad. He attributed it to problems from his immediate and extended family and siblings, which had weighed him down. There was a time Yekini was taken to court to seek injunction restraining his bank from allowing him to withdraw his own money; another for him not to be taken for treatment.

However, by Monday, April 9, 2012, they succeeded in abducting him from his Busayo Taiwo Street, Ring Road, Ibadan, Oyo State residency and taken away in the boot of a Peugeot 505 car to an unknown destination by a group led by his mother, Sikiratu Yekini. He died three weeks later on Friday, May 4, 2012 at 49. He was buried on Saturday, May 5, 2012 in his village, Ira in Kwara State without autopsy being conducted on him.

Questions still remain about Yekini’s untimely death. Was Yekini insane? Why was he abducted? What was his offence? The author subtly points at Yekini’s captors as the only ones who could tell the world what really transpired between them and the ace footballer in his last moments on earth.

the complete lack of a clarity about what is happening in the abduction story reminds me of this and how one of the iconic 90s football players died in his forties and there is no clear picture of how it happened, nigerian friends i ask about this say that when you get outside of lagos state this is not uncommon, there isn't an established national media network that will verify things? idk

Yekini lived in and owned a large, gated development in Oluyole-Ibadan. One by one he evicted his tenants until only he was left. Much of his money was given away, or lent to his few friends. He continued to train alone at the nearby Awolowo Stadium, but when offered a chance to return to the game in 2010, when the Nigerian FA approached him over an ambassadorial role, he refused. “Money is never my first consideration,” he once said. “It’s a great joy being back home so thinking about money is nothing. I value happiness more than money. Money can’t buy you peace of mind.”

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jun/21/rashidi-yekini-nigeria-best-african-players