Yekini’s kids to convert father’s house to museum

The two children of ex-Super Eagles striker Rashidi Yekini say they want to turn the house of the fallen footballer into a museum as part of their efforts to immortalise him.

Yekini had two property — one in Ibadan and another in his hometown Ijagbo, which is occupied by his mother — before his demise on May 4, 2012 and his children Yemisi and Omoyemi hope to use the house to honour their father, even though most of the laurels he won as a player were allegedly stolen from the house by family members just before he died.

“I and Omoyemi 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,” Yemisi, a Cinematography undergraduate at De Montfort University, Leicester, said at a media briefing in Lagos on Wednesday.

“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 because that’s something we would have used to remember our father,” she added.

However, Yekini’s lawyer, Jibril Olanrewaju, said there was pressure from the late footballer’s family to sell the house in Ibadan. Family members allegedly abducted the 1993 African Player of the Year few days before his death, claiming he was mentally unstable, and carted away his property.

Olanrewaju assured that Yemisi and Omoyemi had the right to possess the property of their father in Ibadan, adding that the children were also planning a testimonial game for their father.

Olanrewaju stated, “For now, they can (possess the house). When someone dies without a will, usually, you collect a letter of administration and because the property belongs to them, the two mothers are the administrators to manage the estate.

“We got the letter from the Registery of the High Court of Oyo State in December. Legally they (Yekini’s children) are in actual possession, though there is pressure from the family to get the house sold. But I have been persistently blocking them from doing that.

“The kids told me that they are not happy that their dad didn’t have a testimonial match before he died and that they would want to do that in his honour. They want a platform with which they can do that. They also want most of what their dad lived for, generosity and charity work, to continue.”