By Adesina Soyooye
Music superstar, David Adeleke, popular as Davido, is in a world of his own. He is in a class of his own. And he is the king of that class. In this class he pulls stunts, and gets away with them.
Yet, he is well grounded.
Wise. Intelligent. Deep.
Nothing compares with the “stunt” he pulled a few days ago which has since taken over the Social Media space. It is trending in both conventional and non-conventional mediums.
A couple of days to his 28th birthday, he asked his friends, associates, admirers, those whose lives he has touched with his music to donate to him, the sum of one million Naira each. There were speculations over what the donation would be for.
While some said it was a birthday gift to him, others said the star said he wanted to use the donation to clear his car, a Rolls Royce, from the wharf. Yet, there were those who said he was broke, and now begging for money. They taunted him. They said his lifestyle has put him in trouble.
Question was: Is it possible for Davido to be broke? The answer, naturally, is no. He comes from a rich family. A wealthy family. Top on the list is his father, Deji, a multi-billionaire with interests in “this and that”, yet, understated and without airs. And, even then, in his own right, Davido is a multi-millionaire. He has made so much money from music and endorsements, and much more.. He is, also, a Director in his father’s company.
Anyway, his recent “stunt” worked for him. Within hours, Davido raked in millions of Naira. Within two days, he raked in a whopping N200m. Companies, Industrialists, Businessmen, celebrities flooded the account he opened -Wema Bank- with funds.
On Saturday, November 20, an overwhelmed and grateful Davido pulled another surprise. When he asked for donations to him, he said, he took it as a joke. But the response overwhelmed him.
Thanking all those who responded, he said he has decided to give the N200m away. To that, he added his own personal donation of N50m, making it a total of N250m. The beneficiaries are Orphanages across the country, and Paroche Foundation.
To kickstart its disbursement and, for transparency, he emphasised, Davido immediately, set up a five- member Committee, including three Professors.
The members are:
*Mrs Titi Adebayo – Chairperson.
*Professor Jonathan Nwosu, Secretary.
*Professor Yahaya Joel Asabe.
*Pastor (Dr) Oyalabu
*Professor Uloma Onuoha.
In a video recording, he admitted that he is under pressure, from some people to keep the money. But he said, many people needed the money more than he did.
He said: “A lot of people have called me saying it’s your money, keep it, don’t listen to what people are saying. But not to be corky, the money is a lot.
“I won’t say I don’t need it. I think there are more people that need it more than me. Right now, we are at about N201m. So, I have decided to donate all the money out in Nigeria, and apart from the N201m, I will add N50m from my own money.”
By doing this, Davido has shut-up critics who said he was broke. He has, also, asked copy-cats, who have in the past two days, started asking for donations, just like he did, to get serious.
Music stars, Paul and Peter Okoye of the defunct PSquare, in settling their five- year old feud asked for donations for their 40th birthday. And so did Actor Yul Edochie who asked for donations for his proposed Presidential ambition. He allegedly said “Davido has shown it can be done.”
It is not known, however, if any of them has received a kobo, so far.
Definitely, Davido is in a class of his own.
