Eight Years After: Sports Ministry Places Rashidi Yekini’s Mother On Monthly Stipend

By Akinwale Kasali

Eight Years After Nigeria’s all time highest goal scorer, Rashidi Yekini passed on, the cause of his death remains a mystery.

There are different accounts of his death. While some people say he died of depression, some insist he was poisoned, while another account allege he was assassinated by his friends over his properties.

Sadly, the Striker’s Mother has been languishing in abject poverty since his demise.

But now, the Sports Ministry, through the Minister for Sport, Sunday Dare, has indicated interest to assist Yekini’s mother, Alhaji Sikiratu Yekini.

The Federal Ministry has however placed her on a monthly stipend of N10,000.

Olaitan Shittu, a representative of the Minister of Sports, Mr Sunday Dare, disclosed this at Ijagbo, near Offa in Kwara on Wednesday, when he donated Ramadan gifts on behalf of the minister to the aged mother.

The minister donated the sum of N50,000 as part of the Ramadan gifts to Yekini’s mother to sustain her during the period.

Some of the items donated with the cash included a 50 kg bag of rice, 10 kg bag of wheat and six tins of Milo beverage drink.

Shittu explained that it was not the first time the minister was reaching out to Alhaja Yekini as he was also at her residence in September, 2019.

He said that the Ministry would also be extending the same gesture to the mother of late Super Eagles player, Samuel Okwaraji.

Responding, Alhaja Yekini, who spoke in her local dialect (Yoruba), thanked the minister and prayed fervently for him.

“I have been abandoned for a long time and have not seen any help from anyone.

“I was hospitalised for few days some months ago and I catered for myself despite scarce resources: even last month, I received treatment from the hospital.

“I need help from Nigerians, but this minister has done very well, especially remembering me in this holy month of Ramadan.

“Since my son died, it has been very tough for me because I do not have any help from people.

“Rashidi’s siblings are not doing well too, so, I was left to struggle for life everyday,” she said.

It would be recalled that the late Victoria Setubal Football Club of Portugal Striker died eight years ago in Ibadan after retiring from active football.

His professional career spanned more than two decades and was mainly associated with Vitória de Setúbal in Portugal.

Besides playing for Nigeria, Yekini also played in six other countries including Ivory Coast.

Yekini scored 37 goals as a Nigerian international from 58 games and represented the nation in five major tournaments, including two World Cups (USA 1994 and France 1998) where he scored the country’s first-ever goal in the competition against Bulgaria in the USA ’94 World Cup, and also won the 1994 African Cup of Nations tournament in Tunisia.

He was also named the African Footballer of the Year in 1993.