Koko master and Nigerian music rave of the moment, D’banj wore a sad look last Monday when he told a stunned crowd of journalists how a fraudster , using his name, ripped off hundreds of Nigerians and netting more than N5million under the guise of making him available as guest at their functions.

D’Banj, who turned 29 and was in celebration mood, disclosed that the bulk of the people ripped off by the fraudster whom he  identified as a broadcaster,  were students who paid as much as N10, 000. The most affected were students of Dowen College on the Lagos Island.

D’banj with students

And to bring succour to the students, D’Banj paid an unscheduled visit to the College where he not only performed with Wande Coal and Ikechukwu at the school’s auditorium, he went on to give out N20,000 each as scholarship to three students considered the brightest in the institution..

Earlier,  the Koko master,  who sported a designer grey suit and ox-blood shirt and accompanied by the CEO of MO’Hits records, Don Jazzy, Wande Coal and Ikechukwu, spent a good part of the day visiting the Hearts of Gold Children’s Hospice, an orphanage located in Surulere for abandoned children.

During the visit, the musician presented  a cheque of N1 million as well as food items to the hospice.

Speaking during the event, D’banj said that the decision to visit the children was a spontaneous one. According to him, he woke up that day and made up his mind to visit the less privileged. He said the gesture was his own way of giving back to a society that had given him so much.

Speaking on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Hearts of Gold Hospice, Mrs. Laja Adedoyin, an official of the hospice, Irene Ikediashi, thanked D’banj for the gesture which she said would go a long way in providing for the upkeep of the children.

The artiste would later extend his philanthropic gesture to three students of Dowen College in Lekki, Lagos who finished as the best graduating students of the school in the 2008-2009 academic session. The students, Oritsemisan Ikpobe, Ramon Shitta and Saheedat Onifade each received a scholarship grant worth $20,000 from the Koko master.

Giving reasons for his visit to the school, D’banj said it was a way of repaying the students who had for long craved for a visit from him.

He disclosed that some time in 2007, a radio broadcaster who had posed as his manager, duped the school of about N5 million with the promise that he would bring the artiste for a live musical performance.

Each of the students was said to have paid N10,000 for the purported performance.

But all that controversy was forgotten as the students finally had the chance to see up close their favourite music star perform live.

Along with Wande Cole, Ikechukwu and Naeto C, D’banj gave the kids the performance of their lifetime. For the students, it was like having Christmas in June.

The school’s auditorium, venue of the August visit, was practically shaken to its foundations following the unexpected and unannounced arrival of the music star as the students let out ear-shattering shouts of joy.