Davido raises over N131m under 12hrs in mock challenge to fans
In what started as a joke, Afro hip hop star, David Adeleke (Davido) has achieved a feat of sorts, after he raised over N131 million from fans, associates in a mock challenge to them to mobilize money for him to clear his Rolls Royce car stuck at the Nigerian ports.
Davido said he needed to clear the car ahead of his 28th birthday celebrations, this November 21.
The popular singer, thereafter, threw a mock challenge to fans to reciprocate his generosity and benevolence towards them by responding in like manner to his appeal.
Davido, had in a series of tweets, urged friends, fans and associates alike who have benefitted from him to return the favour.
The singer then humorously urged those ‘wey don blow from me’ to start paying back.
Davido said: “We rise by lifting others abi? Me I don dey rise dey lifting others for the past 100 years. So I want to know who my friends are. All of my friends one one million Naira. They said we are 30BG. If you don’t send your own. You out of here. You are gone (sic).”
The initial video post was made his on Instagram account, followed by a series of tweets on his verified Twitter handle, all on Wednesday mid-morning.
He then went on to open a special WEMA Bank account into which donors can send in their money as he pegged it at one million naira each, with a target set at N100 million representing the cost of clearing the Rolls Royce car at the ports.
Within 10 minutes of posting the account details on his Twitter page, Davido received N7 million in cash donations.
The money kept flooding in, from amounts from fans as little as N700, which the singer acknowledged in tweets, to huge sums dropped in associates like oil magnate, Mr Femi Otedola, who Davido described as ‘alarm not alert.’
In under 30 minutes, the money had climbed to N26 million; as at 4pm on Wednesday, the singer had received a little over N70 million in his account; N87 million in five hours.
The donations hit over N100 million in 6 hours of Davido posting his WEMA Bank account details.
By 11pm on Wednesday night, the music star had raised a little over N131 million on the account.
The flood of cash transactions on the said account prompted the WEMA Bank Management to flag the account by which time it had reached N131, 317, 093.10 million.
The account was subsequently placed on PND or restricted as Davido was also formally invited for a meeting with the bank to explain the source of the funds into the newly-opened account as mandated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Most times, bank place an account on Post-No-Debit (PND) which is basically an instruction to not to allow any withdrawals or transfers from the bank account of account owners, essentially blocking the account from outflows. It is usually drastic a measure taken to allow for investigation and possibly to reclaim any illegal inflow into an account.
As at the time the account was flagged, major donors to Davido’s appeal included celebrities, business personalities, and others, like; BB Naija’s Nengi, Perruzi, Teni, Adekunle Gold, Mr Eazi, Zlatan, Cubana Chief Priest and Chike.
He has also received money from Oyo State House of Representatives member Akin Alabi, businessman and socialite, Emeka Okonkwo (E-money) and Obinna Iyiegbu (Obi Cubana).