Sensational Nigerian-American Afrobeat musician, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido has stated that the real reason he put up his account number on social media in November, last year was because he wanted to raise money to clear his Rolls Royce which was already in the country.
In November last year, Davido became the centre of attraction for pulling off one of the most audacious moves ever by any Nigerian celebrity—and by far, received a loud, positive response from friends and fellow celebrities that he became the topic of discussion for more than three consecutive days.
Davido raised the sum of N200,000,000 (two hundred million Naira) on Instagram, after posting his WEMA Bank account details and tagging his friends to donate towards his birthday.
The 29-year-old musician who appeared on the show of South African comedian, Trevor Noah, to talk about his ongoing tour—”We rise by lifting others” confessed that the original idea behind posting his account details online some days before his 29th birthday in November was to raise money to clear his 2021 Rolls Royce Cullinan valued at $340,000 (N163 million) which was to be shipped to Nigeria. However, things changed when the responses became overwhelming.
“So it was two things, I really wanted this watch for my birthday and I wanted my management and personal team to get it. So it started off as ‘David wants this watch, let’s all put in money’. And by mistake, my manager sends one of the messages to me, I am like what watch? So that was that. Then after I was like yo…actually, we should…cuz I’m the one that’s always giving. I am never the one to receive presents. I’m the one giving presents, the one always making sure that everybody is okay. So I’m like this year I’m putting myself first. So I was like…me and my friend was in the balcony. I was like yo, should I put out my account and see if it gets lits? I said I have an account I don’t really use like that and the balance on that account was zero. So I tweeted, I just shipped a Rolls Royce to Nigeria. The price of the car is basically the same when you are trying to clear it. Just like…if you buy a car for $500,000, to get it off the ship back home you are paying like another $400,000, because of the taxes. So I’m like I better have my fans give me money and get the car out. So I put it up.
Davido also narrated how surprised he was at the responses he got on social media just minutes after putting up his account number.
“Two minutes, equivalent, I will say the amount in dollars. $20,000 in seven minutes, I’m like…and then I went to take a shower, I come back it is like $70,000. I’m like….so you know what I started doing? I started calling people, like famous people like hey, come on, you know I gave you a hit song last year, come on. Come on. I am like everybody, I’m like everybody that I have helped, everybody I have helped whichever way, I– everybody that I have helped in any way just donate money and it came up to, I was scared but it came up to $600,000.
The DMW label owner confessed that he thought of keeping the money to himself but his father who he looks up to told him to give it up when he reached out for guidance.
“And at this point, I’m like, can I keep this? Like so much is going on in the world. You know what I am saying. Like I can’t be that insensitive. I just felt…I spoke to my dad, he’s like my mentor. I picked up the phone (and he said) hey son, you know you can’t keep that money, right? I’m like, we think the same like I was already thinking that, you know what I’m saying, Because people, even though People were like no, a lot of people was like no, keep it, you’ve done so much for the community.”
Davido said the following morning changed him as he counted his blessings and realized how well God has blessed him. His family and team then decided to donate the entire $600,000 to orphanages across Nigeria.