11th May, 2012
Ike Shorunmu, who was very closed to the late Rashidi Yekini as both former Nigerian internationals lived in Ibadan, has revealed that the 1993 African Footballer of the Year became mysterious as he started giving money to people few years ago. He said it was indeed strange, and an act the striker was not known for during his playing days.
Shorunmu disclosed this to P.M.Sports in an exclusive chat in Abuja. He said Yekini started giving money to people who did not even ask him, an act which aroused the curiosity of close friends who were shocked with his attitude. He said some people began wondering if all was well with the late record goal scorer in Nigeria’s football history.
“ One thing I can still recall about Rashidi Yekini was that few years ago, he suddenly changed as information got to me and some people very close to him that he went about giving people money, whether he knew them or not. This, most of us very close to him felt was strange because when he was playing, he was hardly known to give people money anyhow. It was very difficult for him to give people money then but suddenly, he started giving people money,” Shorunmu said.
The former goalkeeper of the Super Eagles said he witnessed an incident at the stadium in Ibadan one Saturday morning when many people were at the stadium jogging and doing light exercises and the All Stars team were training. He said Yekini, who was also at the stadium started giving money to people but unknown to him one of the people he wanted to give money was the wife of a former governor.
He said the woman rejected the brown envelope in a disgusted way, but the late striker did not betray any emotions as he just moved on to the next person, who gladly accepted his brown envelope believed to contain an undisclosed amount of money.
“ We did not really know why he was doing such kindness, but a lot of people in Ibadan who came in contact actually got some financial token from him and they were happy and he too seemed happy doing that, but some of us were wondering why the sudden change in his behaviour” he concluded.
—Francis Achi/Abuja