Danjuma Ibrahim Yakubu, a journalist with Radio Nigeria Precious FM, in Lafia, Nassarawa State, has emerged the grand prize winner in the just-concluded Red Hot Promo by Nigeria’s leading mobile Internet Company, Airtel Nigeria.

Yakubu, 40, a National Assembly correspondent, broke down in tears at the Headquarters of Airtel’s Northern operations in Abuja, yesterday, when he came to personally verify the authenticity of the promo and the fact that he emerged grand prize winner of N10 million.

“An Airtel Regional Management team led by Olufemi Oyewole, the Regional Operations Director, North, welcomed the journalist and confirmed to him that the promo was real. An overwhelmed Yakubu was literally overtaken by emotions as he battled to complete the acceptance form,” Airtel said in a statement made available to News Express.

“This is like a dream to me; I just can’t believe that this is real and happening. May God be praised,” Yakubu was quoted as saying in a trembling voice and teary eyes.

Yakubu, married with five children and a resident of Doma, Doma Local Government Area (LGA) of Nassarawa state, profusely thanked Airtel for the generosity, saying that the company “should continue with the good and transparent work, and may God bless the management for their wisdom and consideration for the welfare of the common man.”

The statement said Oyewole used the opportunity to assure the winner that Airtel is passionate about empowering Nigerians and creating credible platforms to reward and excite its customers, and also enable them realise their dreams and passions.

Airtel disclosed that Yakubu emerged winner in a draw supervised by leading systems’ audit specialist, TCQA and conducted on Tuesday, December 17, at the Corporate Headquarters of Airtel Nigeria located in highbrow Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Airtel drew the curtain on the Red Hot Recharge and Win promo after 60 days of doling out cash prizes, phones and free airtime worth hundreds of millions of naira to customers.

The loyalty reward scheme, which has seen scores of Nigerians realise their dream of financial empowerment, was designed as raffle draw, with participation open to customers who simply needed to either recharge, purchase or renew data bundle subscriptions, meet their 5X target, subscribe to ‘Talkmore’ or join the Airtel network.

The nationwide promo produced a daily winner of one million naira for 60 days and a grand prize winner of ten million naira. Other prizes included high-end smart phones to 100 winners per week, in addition to free talktime to over 5,000 customers. Also, for the entire 60 days of the promo all customers on the network got 5 free SMS and subscription services to choose from.

Speaking about the completion of the promo, Airtel Nigeria’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, Deepak Srivastava, expressed satisfaction with the success of the promo just as he commended customers for their faith in the operator and its promise to continually seek out credible platforms for empowerment.

“We are glad to have provided the platform for our customers to express their huge faith in us as testified to by their participation, indeed, they have always done so; but more so is the fact we are keeping our promise to empower our customers and help them realise their dreams of financial freedom and fulfillment,“ Deepak said.

Speaking further, Mr. Srivastava assured of the company’s readiness to remain at the vanguard of delivering quality telecommunication products and offerings as well as other social benefits to the teeming subscribers on the network.

Among those who won one million naira each include Lagos-based Yusuf Lawal Adeniyi, Aremu Akeem Adewale, and Olabisi Odufuwa; Riro Esigbone from Delta; Ali Ibrahim, a Borno businessman; Umoh Okon, a trader in Akwa Ibom; Catechist Samuel Ogummobi and Port Harcourt-based business woman, Sylvia Amadasun.

•Photo shows one of the RED HOT promo winners.