She might be bent physically, due to age, but her determination, embedded in her strong and clear voice, is as ramrod as a soldier on sentry duty. She might not be lettered but she possesses a sharp intelligence on the game her son lived and died for, and she has enough ‘intelligence officers’ in the form of a small transistor radio which keeps her abreast of happenings in the world of football.
Intrigues, betrayals and disappointments; that is the summary of the deposition by Madam Sikirat Akanke Olobi the aged woman whose son, Rashidi Yekini, brought fame to Nigeria in the greater part of his life time as a legendary footballer but died four years ago in pitiable and controversial circumstances.
Although they remain mere allegations, the pain in the heart of this aged woman is that she has been forgotten by those who should have stood with her after her son’s death demonstrating the love and affection aged people so much crave as they descend the last few steps on the ladder of their sojourn on earth. One of such people is the man she described as ‘the second lawyer’ who came on the scene after Yekini died.
The others are two of her daughters-in law. And the last is government, particularly the government of Kwara State whose son, Yekini once brought Nigeria praise and glory. We met her at her ‘shop’ in Ijagbo and started with the journalistic line of pretending to correct a wrong impression going on in the social media about her situation, but she quickly corrected us: it is no fluke.
The pictures of her that went viral, where she s t o o d b e – side a small kiosk with four loaves of bread for sale, was not a wrong impression of her situation. Her wares when we visited consisted of five loaves of bread, a small freezer for selling cold drinks and a medium fridge for s e l l -ing pure water.
The ‘shop’ is one of the garages of the two-storey building her son bought for her before his demise now converted for her petty trading. As a matter of fact, she explained to us without blinking an eyelid that the latest exposure was the second attempt to publicise her plight to the world.
“The first one we did, it didn’t work but this one has worked”, she confessed pointing out that since the publication, there has been very positive response from the public. The outpouring of emotion or gifts however is not her main goal; her main objective, she explained, is the need to draw public attention to what her son’s lawyer had allegedly made her to pass through and also to question whether she should be left without official attention and care, in the light of the contributions of her son to Nigerian football.
And she is ready to punch the lawyer, literally, if he dares to come see her now. “Let him try and come here and he will see what will happen. I will tear his clothes; I will shout on him, I will remove his lawyer’s clothes”, she told me, her voice rising with the anger and pain in her heart. At another point of the discussion, she expressed worry that the said lawyer had been going about allegedly spreading wrong stories about her and her well-being.
“Why?” she asked me but I couldn’t give an answer. “Tell him to stop. I am a full- fledged Ira born, I am a daughter of Sango (the Yoruba god of iron) and I can call on my fathers to avenge me if need be.”
At a point she argued the lawyer might have been treating her allegedly so badly because he is not of Yoruba stock.According to her, there has been no contact between her and her son’s lawyer since after her son was interred four years ago.
“Yet he goes about tarnishing my image. Does he know this place? Has he ever visited me? Has he ever called me? It’s all lies he goes about spreading. I got to know him in Ira, the hometown of my son, during his burial.
He came to greet me on the burial date, which was the eighth day of the death. He came with a policeman. Since then, I have not seen him. I don’t know his name. I don’t have any relationship with him at all.
When my daughter died recently, did he come to visit me? Did he call to commiserate with me? When they celebrated his remembrance they got N3 million, the lawyer took N1 million and the other wives took N2 million. What did they give me? Am I not entitled to something?
“When Rashidi was alive he took good care of me. He never neglected me. If he came to Nigeria, by the second day he would be here. He bought this house for me; we paid the price of two houses for this single one but how much are we making from it?
I use one of the flats, my son uses the second and we rent out the remaining two. We have three rooms for rent at the back but what are we getting from there? And when government or people ask, he says he is taking care of me. He says I collect huge house rent.
This is someone who doesn’t know what I eat or drink. If it were Osun State, I will be collecting something regularly; government people will be coming to see me but there is nothing like that here now.”
Mama recalled that on the day Rashidi was buried and the Osun State government gave them some amount of money, the traditional ruler of her town asked her to share the money on the open field.
Her own share of the money, she recalled, was handed over to a woman whom she insisted was impregnated by her son even though the later footballer had queried the woman’s claim. “She gave birth three days after coming to my house and I know the child is mine.
Would I now deny them just because the lawyer and the other wives did? Is it fair? The woman is my son’s wife, he denied her then because he was troubled in his mind. It was the devil’s handiwork”.
Like all grandparents, she said she is committed to taking care of all her grandchildren and they currently include five children left behind by one of Rashidi’s sisters, two children by the late footballer’s brother, as well as family of another brother Sunmaila who resides in Kaduna State.
I asked if she knows one of her grandchild studying at the University of Ilorin. “I don’t know him, maybe he is the one born abroad because if is it Bidemi he knows me and he knows this place but that one I have not heard about. Maybe he is the one from abroad and they want him to study in Nigeria.”
Unless someone else succeeds in convincing her, this aged woman would go to her grave believing that Rashidi was shot from his dream. “It was a spiritual attack”, she told me, adding, “they shot arrow at him in his dream.
The attack was on a Friday night and that was why Iya Bidemi, his wife in Osogbo and I were running helter skelter to save him.” Before we left, a group from Abuja, Helpline Foundation, came after reading the stories on her on social media.
She said they promised to place her on a monthly stipend. A bank official came to pick her for documentations of her Biometric Verification Number for the purpose. It was the banker’s call that cut short our conversation because Mamna insisted it would be unfair to keep a banker waiting. The Abuja team also bought her a new phone. We watched as she received the phone.
She was excited and brought out one old phone she said was bought for her by Rashidi but which was no longer working. She wants more people to show her such care: a phone call, a visit, anything that gives her joy. She allowed us a tour around the complex.
Apart from the main building, there is another four rooms behind. All are occupied by tenants. Someone claimed the tenants pay just N1, 000 per month. There is also a small mosque at the left hand side as you enter the complex from the main road.
As we approached the gate on our way out, two men in a big Sport Utility Vehicle slowed down, looking and pointing at the complex and the aged woman who by that time was coming towards the parked van sent from the bank to pick her up.
It was like the two men were discussing her. It was as if they wanted to come and see her. But the men in the SUV away. And that is the kind of sight Mama sees everyday which probably makes her sad as she remembers her son who also used to ride in big cars when he was alive.
Such memories, when contrasted with the present situation of selling kuli-kuli, bread and ‘pure water’ to eke a living, can make anyone very angry. Particularly if truly there are sources of income she could access but is being denied.
Obviously there are problems within the Rashidi estate and the earlier they are resolved the better. This woman must not die believing that she had been cheated here on earth, even if such thinking were not correct.
