Kwara State has honoured the late Nigerian football legend Rashidi Yekini and table tennis great Atanda Musa by naming sporting facilities after them.
Yekini, who died in 2012 aged 48, is Nigeria’s record top scorer, having netted 37 goals in 62 appearances for the Super Eagles in an international career that spanned the 1980s and 1990s.
The former Shooting Stars of Ibadan, Vitoria Setubal of Portugal and Sporting Gijon of Spain striker spearheaded the attack of the ‘golden generation’ of Nigerian football who reached the Africa Cup of Nations finals in 1988 and 1990 and won the trophy in 1994.
Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, included the iconic striker among historic figures who had several old and new legacy projects in the state named after them on Monday.
Yekini, who scored Nigeria’s first-ever World Cup goal in the United States of America in 1994, will have the largest part of the Kwara State Stadium Complex named after him.
“The main bowl of the stadium is named after the late Rashidi Yekini, a football legend renowned for scoring Nigeria’s first World Cup goal and the country’s highest goal scorer to date,” the Kwara State Governor said in an official statement on Monday.
The Governor also approved the naming of the Table Tennis Arena after Atanda Musa, a renowned star of the sport in the in the 1980s.
The Indoor Sports Hall is now named after Gabriel Babatunde Ladipo, the first black principal of the Government Technical Training School Ilorin, who was regarded as the father of sports in the state.
The Squash Court in the stadium is now named after coach Bolakale Mogaji, the executive chairman of the Kwara State Sports Commission, who was a pioneer coach, player, and national champion.
“KFA Academy is named after Coach Usuman Adenuja, the first football coach who took the Kwara Academicals to the final of Academical football competition, with the Governor among his products,” the statement added.
The Hostel A of the stadium is now named after Salihu Ishola, the first Kwara Commonwealth Games’ medallist. Hostel B is named after Paralympic badminton bronze medalist, Bolaji Eniola. Hostel C is named after Bola Esan, the first female director of sports in the state.
The statement added that the initiative reflected the Governor’s commitment to honouring figures whose legacies have significantly impacted Kwara and the nation.
