Born in London, Yemisi Yekini is the first daughter of late Nigeria striker Rashidi Yekini. The Cinematography undergraduate of De Montfort University, Leicester, says her father’s death should be investigated in this interview with ’TANA AIYEJINA
You spoke with your dad twice every day before he died. Did you hear stories about his insanity before his death?
Yes I did. I spoke with him, I asked him about it and he said, ‘I’m fine.’ I think there was one (story) about him running around without shoes. But I believed my dad because there were no pictures. He was even telling me about him being a coach.
What do you hope to do with his property?
I and Omoyemi (her sister) come from a great home; we both have great mothers and a great father, so we are not money-hungry children. We are not here to sell the house or get the money. What we both want is the house in Ibadan, which we (with Omoyemi) shared with our father. That is the one we want. We come from great families that look after us and we’ve learnt to live by ourselves. We are not bothered about the money; we’ve been able to look after ourselves. I had the idea of turning his house in Ibadan to a museum. Mr. Olanrewaju Jibril (Yekini’s lawyer) told me that when he went to the house, everything was gone: all his trophies, his pictures, awards all gone. And that’s very sad and upsetting because that’s something we would have loved to remember our father with.
Are you interested in asking for an inquisition into your father’s death?
Yes. There is no information on how he died and we cannot move on when we don’t know he died. Your father just passed away and you ask you mother, ‘Mum, how did he die?’ And she says, ‘I don’t know.’ Your father is dead and you don’t know he died. That’s the worst thing. You don’t know if he was killed, drugged or ill. There are no answers as to how he died, so I will like there to be an inquisition to that.
Did you request for an inquisition before now?
I requested for an inquisition when he died but as a 17-year-old girl, I couldn’t say to my mother, ‘Mum I want the police to investigate.’ No one would listen to me. Everyone is saying Rashidi Yekini is a great footballer; he is a superstar of Nigeria, so, why do we need to request for an inquisition? Why can’t just Nigeria investigate how he died?
There are stories that life has been difficult for Yekini’s children. Is it true?
I’m fine. I have my mum and a fabulous step-dad and I have been working since I was 17. Living in London, it’s always good to be independent. So, that’s how I have been surviving.
How has his name influenced you?
There’s one massive thing the name has done for me. I went to Portugal three years ago with my best friend, a Portuguese. I remembered that I read in a book that he played for Vitoria Setubal. So what happened was that me, my friend and her grandmother went there just to see the stadium. We went inside and we told them who my dad was. It was just crazy. They took us on a tour, he has a massive picture in the locker room. There were also pictures of the great people that played for the team. They invited us to a friendly football match where we sat in the VIP section and at half time, they had a massive presentation. They told them that I was there, they reminded them about who my dad was and they presented me with a huge picture of his, a jersey with his name on it and the atmosphere was crazy. The fans were amazing; they were asking me for pictures, asking to shake my hands. I didn’t know that this is the power he had. It was crazy. There was an article online about it. That was when I realised who my father was. And that was in Portugal. But in Nigeria, I haven’t seen that.
So what is your message to Nigerians concerning your father?
My message to Nigerians is that they should just try and immortalise him in any way. He represented Nigeria perfectly, scored the country’s first World Cup goal. He dedicated his life to football and Nigeria. So they should just try and immortalise him any way they can.
You study in Leicester, home of new English champions Leicester City. Are you a fan of the club?
I was there when they won (the EPL) and the ceremony they had was amazing. They had a bus ride; about 100,000 people came out and Leicester is a small city. It was an amazing time to be in Leicester.
Are you into sports?
I did sports in secondary school. I was very athletic in secondary school; I did running, javelin and shot put. But I stopped.
So, you weren’t interested in football?
Honestly no. But I was interested because of my dad and his history.
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