Gold Amidst Dust: Ayokunle — Oddy — Odekunle’s Friends
Yesterday, a call woke me around 5am to inform me of Ayokunle — Oddy — Odekunle tragic transition. I called the wife who had messaged me around 3am to inform me of the tragic news. After that, I set out to do what I always intended to do since I saw Oddy on that bed after my short visit to him and his family at Edmonton on the 17th of December, 2023.
I messaged a couple of mutual friends to get their buy-in, they got behind it. I said a little prayer, then started to write what was going to be a tweet. As I continued writing, I realised it was no longer going to be a tweet. I thought, it is what it is.
By the end of a process that started with raising funds for his late family via a Nigerian naira account, and later a Canadian Interac email, we went on to raise 29,162 Canadian Dollars via GoFundMe by the time I went to bed.
When I woke up, having crashed for several hours due to lack of sleep and activity from the previous day, the GoFundMe had risen to $33,852 whilst my Twitter DM and Whatsapp had cash transfer confirmations in the millions and new requests to transfer.
I have been embarrassed by people praising me for this. Because anyone who’s been paying attention would know the desire was already there, I just gave it the spark it needed by providing people the opportunity to support the family. Take Tope Olowu who advised we had to open a GoFundMe at a time I thought it was no longer necessary. It has proven to be over 30,000 times necessary! Tope was on the money and I couldn’t be happier for getting bullied by her to get on with it.
Oddy’s friends stood up and stood out for him — the evidence is beyond their twitter timelines, many of them saying the late excellent lawyer never asked for invitation to support them when they needed same. They brought their energy and passion and helped to rally their base. That collective will to be there for one of us and his family created this spark.
As I made to go to bed, I realised the limit had to move from $30,000 to $50,000 simply tending to people’s motivation. We had started with $15,000. There is no limit to what I wish we could raise for Halima, Oddy’s wife and their two kids Kamilah and Khalil. No limit.
We have no plans to move the limit again. However, the campaign will stay live for the next 40 days or so.
Oddy’s passing will always be a tragedy. However, what I have seen people do after his passing will always be my reference note on the power people can wield when they are motivated to make change happen. Oddy’s friends, family, allies and supporters have been unstoppable. Unstoppable!
I want to thank everyone who’s been part of this. If I start listing names, I’d be in the wrong for the names I end up missing out. You are all the reason we are here, after less than a day of standing with our friend since his passing in Edmonton late evening of Friday — early morning Saturday in Nigeria.
If you were part of this in anyway, I’d love to read up on your experience. This is the link to the GoFundMe, don’t stop sharing it. If you haven’t donated, please do. God bless everyone who’s been part of this in one way or the other. Thanks for reiterating my belief in us. It’s dust to dust, but we managed to make gold out of this one. That’s the magic of love. The power of people.
