rashidi yekini mother punch lawyer

It is no news that Madam Sikirat Akanke Olobi is going through a rough time since the demise of her son, Rashidi Yekini.
In a recent chat with Saturday Telegraph, Madam Olobi blamed late Rashidi Yekini’s lawyer, Jibril Olanrewaju for her suffering.
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.
In a anger-filled voice, the aged woman said 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.
[Saturday Telegraph]