German Bundesliga side, Borussia Dortmund decided to celebrate Nigerian music star, Davido via their verified Twitter page on Friday, March 18, 2022, and the method they used to celebrate him attracted a series of mixed reactions from both the fans of the club and the fans of the music star.
Before now, Borussia Dortmund is not a very popular European club among Nigerian football enthusiasts. But the club topped Nigeria’s Twitter trend on Friday after Davido retweeted a tweet from the Twitter page of the German club.
In the tweet, the handler of Borussia Dortmund Twitter page shared two pictures. In the first picture, the club’s talisman, Erling Haaland could be seen choking Marco Reus while in the second shot, Marco Reus grabbed the neck of Axel Witsel while celebrating a goal.
In the caption, Borussia Dortmund wrote: E choke tagging Davido’s Twitter handle. And the Nigerian music star retweeted the tweet and wrote “clear road”.
Clear road https://t.co/SCouuAj8Dk
— Davido (@davido) March 18, 2022
“E Choke” is a slang Davido and his crew made popular in Nigerian pop culture. There is no clear definition of the term but it is loosely used when one has a particular thing in abundance.
However, the pictures Borussia Dortmund shared of players grabbing the neck of their teammates illustrated the literal meaning of the slang.
Some critics of the Twitter post argued that the club was promoting violence with the post by showing pictures of players choking themselves. While others appreciated the fact that the German club celebrated one of the biggest music stars in Nigeria who recently sold out the O2 Arena.
Dortmund did not stop there, they also tweeted a line from one of Davido’s biggest hit songs “Fall”. The club simply wrote: “BVB fallllll on youuuu.”
BVB fallllll on youuuu 🎶🤣
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) March 18, 2022
In the same vein, the club decided to use the medium to celebrate two of Nigerian football legends, Sunday Oliseh and Victor Ikpeba who have played for the club in the past.
Dortmund tweeted pictures of the two retired footballers in the colors of the German club and captioned the pictures with: “BVB loves Naija. Sunday Oliseh x Victor Ikpeba.”
BVB loves Naija 💛
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) March 18, 2022
Sunday Oliseh x Victor Ikpeba 🇳🇬 pic.twitter.com/JsczaGYoXS
Note that Victor Ikpeba played for Dortmund for three seasons after he joined the club from French Ligue 1 side Monaco back in 1999. The retired footballer who is now a football manager left the club for Real Betis in 2002.
On the other hand, Sunday Oliseh spent four seasons at the German club between 2000 and 2004. The retired footballer who is now a football coach and pundit joined the club from Italian Serie A club Juventus in 2000.
After winning the German Bundesliga title with the Black and Yellow, Oliseh left the club for another German club VfL Bochum in 2004.
Though the Borussia Dortmund tweet has generated a series of reactions, the motive behind the club’s decision to celebrate Davido, Sunday Oliseh, and Victor Ikpeba on the same day was not clear at the time of publishing this report.
The German club will be in action against Cologne on Sunday, March 20, 2022. The German Bundesliga game will kick off at 19:30. Dortmund are currently occupying the second spot on the German Bundesliga table with 56 points in 26 games, four points away from first placed Bayern Munich.
Below are some of the mixed reactions to the E Choke tweet of Borussia Dortmund
