Taye Currency: How late Alao-Akala made me rich, gave me N99m in 2011
Taye Currency, the Nigerian Fuji musician, has revealed that Christopher Alao-Akala, the late former governor of Oyo state, paid him N99 million over a decade ago.
The Oyo-based singer sang about how Alao-Akala changed his financial status when he performed at the annual Oshodi Day event.
The event was held in Lagos on December 27, 2023.
During his stage performance, Currency recalled how he had performed at Akala’s campaign rallies back in 2011.
He said the show promoter during the campaign always delayed payments, adding that sometimes he would wait for up to three days before he got paid.
The singer said in a bid to get his money, he confronted the then-governor in his house about the delayed payments.
He said Akala demanded an explanation for his outburst. He said after explaining that he was owed N500,000 and had not been paid yet, the then-governor thereafter asked Kemi Akala, his wife, to be in charge of his payments for the rest of the campaign.
Currency said Akala then paid him N99 million as the total of all his performances at the 33 local governments in the state.
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“I want to talk about how I became somebody in life. In 2011, when we were campaigning for Akala, the person in charge of payments for the shows would always delay my payments. If I performed today, he would not pay me on time,” he said.
“Then one day, I was in Akala’s house and as he was approaching, the street boy in me got angry and I started shouting. I told him that I was yet to be paid and as such I would not come here anymore. Akala looked at me shocked and I knew he could not do anything to me because I was a musician.
“I shouted again that I was yet to be paid, so I would not come here again. He then asked me what the problem was. I told him that the N500,000 I was supposed to be paid for my performance had not been given to me. He said he did not ask them to give me N500,000. He then told Mrs Kemi Akala, his first lady that from that day henceforth, she should be the one paying me.
“Akala then told them to pay for the performances of 33 local governments, which was N99 million. It is just like yesterday, when I collected that money I could not sleep. That was how I made it, just like that. It happened in the presence of my people. Even after I had sorted everyone out, I still had about N60 million.”
