By Mike Adeyemi
It’s heart rending that eight years after his demise, the Kwara State and indeed the Federal Government are yet to immortalise the legendary Rashidi Yekini who scored the country’s first ever goal at the FIFA senior World Cup.
Prior now, many concerned Nigerians have harped on the need to bequeath a posthumous recognition on the late soccer legend by naming a soccer edifice after him as it is done in other saner climes.
President of the Nigerian Football Federation(NFF), Amaju Pinnick lend his voice to the agitation while unveiling the Kwara State Football Association house on Wednesday in Ilorin, the state capital.
Pinnick in his statement charged the Kwara State Governor, Mall. Abdulrasaq Abdulraham to name the Kwara State stadia after the late Ira-born football exponent.
It is sad to note that many concerned stakeholders had advised the previous government in the state to do same all to no avail.
It would be recalled that Billy Adedamola, former Special Adviser on Media to former Governor Bukola Saraki, had prepared a blueprint for proposed immortalization of the football sage. Alas, what has been done till date in this regards according him was a pantry handouts to the mother of the late legend by the Kwara State Government and some individuals in the state.
Adedamola posited that if former players who served the country diligently are quickly forgotten when they passed on, it would discourage the present Super Eagles players from putting in their best.
“I am pained that someone like Late Yekini is quickly fading away from our memories because nothing has been done to immortalise him by the Federal Government and the government of his state,(Kwara).
“It will be good if the Federal Government through the Ministry of Sports will immortalise this legend. Surprisingly, even the football federation has not deemed it necessary to keep his memories alive,” he said.
Since his controversial death in 2012, Nigerian football stakeholders have continued to call on the Federal Government to immortalise the man who helped the Super Eagles to their second AFCON title in Tunisia in 1994.
It would be a big plus for the current Kwara State Government it names the Kwara State Stadium after her illustrious son, Rashidi Yekini.
The late Rashidi Yekini achieved major feat at the 1994 World Cup in the United State of America when he scored the opening goal in the 3-0 defeat of Bulgaria in Super Eagles debut at the World Cup.
Born on October 23, 1963 in Kaduna, Yekini who died on May 4, 2012 under controversial circumstances had 58 caps for Nigeria scoring 37 goals to emerge the country’s all time highest goalscorer.
His career which spanned more than two decades, was mainly associated with Portuguese giants, Vitoria de Setubal where he scored a whopping 90 goals in 114 matches.
Before he left Nigeria to play abroad, Yekini first played for clubs like UNTL Kaduna (1981-1982), Shooting Stars of Ibadan (1982-84), and Abiola Babes (1984-1987).
In 1987, the man who was popularly known as ‘gangling Yekini’ due to his physique and robust style of play left Nigeria to play for African Sports of Cote d’Ivoire till 1990 when he left the continent to join Portugal’s Vitoria de Setubal.
Yekini’s illustrious career took him to six countries where he played for other clubs like Olympiacos, FC Zurich, Bizerte and Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia.
In the twilight of his career, Yekini who scored a total of 164 goals for clubs and country and was voted African Footballer of the Year in 1993, returned home to play for Julius Berger of Lagos between 2002-2003 and Gateway FC of Abeokuta where he finally retired in 2005.
