Davido Talks Osun Election, Governors, and His Political Views

Afrobeats star David “Davido” Adeleke has shared his thoughts on his uncle, Ademola Adeleke’s re-election as Osun State governor. He claims he faced 17 All Progressives Congress (APC) governors using just his mobile phone.

The “Unavailable” hitmaker played a big part in Adeleke’s return as governor. He also discussed President Bola Tinubu, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo in an interview with News Central TV on Tuesday.

Davido said: “I defeated 17 governors with all their power, with all their immunity, with all their aides, with all their escort commanders, with all their DSS, with all their billions. I defeated them with my phone, but, to me, it’s just like the political scene in Nigeria right now. It’s not like there have been celebrities who have become presidents, even Volodymyr Zelenskyy from Ukraine, who was an actor and comedian.

“Then he became the president. George Weah of Liberia was a footballer. He became the president so that leadership can come from anywhere for sure. But what I’m saying is that nothing is clear. The voting process is unclear. Even when you enter, you will still drag. Are the people around you even ready to serve? So for now, you know what I’m saying? I feel like I did what I had to do for the Osun people and for my family.”

Davido also mentioned that he got many messages asking him to support his uncle in the presidential election. But he said such requests would not change his mind.

He added that he has no presidential candidate and will not back Tinubu, even though his uncle endorsed the President for a second term. He explained that his uncle’s decision was based on personal reasons and what he thought would help the state.

“Personally, I don’t want to be involved in it. I’m sure a governor on good terms with the president would get more allocations, you know what I’m saying? That’s for the governor to decide. He’s been re-elected. Maybe I shouldn’t have said we, because my uncle came out to declare his support for Tinubu.

“As for me, I’m not prepared to support anybody. I personally haven’t seen anybody. In the past, yes, I’ve supported, you know, Atiku before when we were in PDP. And I even supported it in 2015, when the APC first merged. My late uncle, Serubawon, was part of the APC. So I campaigned then. Right now, I don’t have a presidential candidate. It might change. It’s not going to be APC,” Davido said.

He emphasized that every citizen has the right to choose their presidential candidate, calling it a personal choice.

Davido also said he will not apologize to Governor Okpebholo and Omoyele Sowore, the African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, over their disagreement during the election period. He accused Sowore of seeking attention and dragging him and his uncle into issues after their encounter during the #EndSARS protest in Abuja.

He noted, “During the #EndSARS protest in Abuja that my guys and I attended, we were all leading. Sowore came, and I tried to… I do like this. I was like, no, no, no, I don’t want to join. Since that day, he has been bitter with all those fake antics going to court, up and down. That is a serious person. I’m not going to apologize. I didn’t do anything wrong. I was telling the people of the state the results that the governor has.

“You left your state, came to another state, to rig. Then you start talking about how my uncle is a dancer. He’s not serious. My uncle is not serious. First of all, you were not even elected. You were selected. You didn’t win those votes, sir. You don’t know what it is to win an election. That’s why you could go there and talk. And I feel so bad for his kids, because they’re like, see what my dad is doing. You’re abusing a sitting governor in his own state. Anyhow, sir, finish your three years. We’ll visit you when it’s time for you to get re-elected.”

Davido claimed he aimed at Akpabio on X after hearing that he was trying to influence the collation centre and alter the election results. He said Akpabio was like a godfather to him.

He mentioned that the Senate President called him during the election and asked him to delete his posts, but he refused. “I heard the Senate president was trying to call the collation centre. That was like my godfather, Akpabio. They were calling me today. I said, sorry. I don’t know if you guys had literally just gone against my uncle. I’m saying you guys are seeing this man. I can’t delete anything.

“My uncle, Aliko Dangote, called me. I said, ‘Uncle, I’m only doing it until INEC announces it. I’m not deleting anything. Who else did I say was calling? Faleke, that one too retweeted me and was saying I should focus on my music. I said, well, politics is not a job. So you are there to save the people. So he said, ‘Let us focus on our politics. That’s the mentality. Let us focus on our politics. And let me tell you, you guys. Well, you guys are getting old. It’s your children that’ll suffer from it.’

The “B4 B4” crooner alleged that the APC and its candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, spent ₦110 billion on the election.

“I just confirmed today, they spent ₦110 billion. I’m coming from somewhere where we had an insider who was sending us. If you see the cash that these people brought in, if they had gotten away with that election, Nigeria is finished because the blueprint will now be for election violence. The only way is violence and money.

“We didn’t spend a dime on election day. All we could do was pray that these people would take their money and vote for us. When the election started, the results were uploaded every 30 minutes. You know, it’s about 3,700 polling units they uploaded.