Afrobeats star David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has alleged that Senate President Godswill Akpabio and billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote contacted him during the Osun State governorship election, asking him to delete social media posts in which he was raising concerns about the vote-collation process.
Davido made the disclosure during an interview with News Central TV on Tuesday, where he discussed the pressure he faced while monitoring the election and sharing real-time updates on X, formerly Twitter. The election in question, the Osun State governorship poll, saw his uncle, Governor Ademola Adeleke, seeking re-election.
Recounting the episode, Davido said he became aware of efforts to influence the collation centre and later received direct calls urging him to take down his posts. “I heard that the Senate President was trying to call the coalition center. He also was calling me to delete tweet. I said sir, sorry o. You guys have literally gone against my uncle. I can’t delete anything,” he said.
He said Dangote also reached out to him personally with the same request, but that he declined to remove the posts until the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) formally announced the result: “Uncle Aliko also called. I said I won’t delete till INEC announces it.”
Beyond the calls to delete his posts, Davido alleged that political actors deployed vast sums of money in an attempt to sway the election’s outcome. He claimed that more than ₦110 billion in cash was brought into the state for that purpose, saying he had received the figure from an inside source tracking the movement of funds. He said, “If they had gotten away with that election, Nigeria is finished.”
The singer maintained that his own camp did not distribute money to voters on election day, saying his team instead relied on voter vigilance and public support: “We didn’t spend a dime on election day. All we could do was just pray that these people take their money and vote for us.”
He also described scenes of resistance from residents, saying some Osun locals confronted individuals allegedly attempting to seize ballots, adding, “It got to a point where it was the Osun people that were beating the people that were trying to seize ballots. People are tired.”
Davido’s on-the-ground commentary during the election, which unfolded on Saturday, August 15, 2026, had grown increasingly pointed as results were being collated, with his posts directly addressing President Bola Tinubu, Akpabio, and other ruling-party figures, and pressing INEC to publish outstanding result sheets within a set deadline.
Separately, on the day of the election, Davido deleted two politically charged tweets, one stating that his family would no longer support any presidential candidate ahead of the 2027 elections, and another appearing to criticise Tinubu, a move that drew scrutiny from online observers questioning his motives.
Davido also credited his family’s backing during the tense period, saying his father, Adedeji Adeleke, had been “praying and fasting seven times a day” for the governor’s victory.
Governor Adeleke was ultimately declared the winner of the election, a result Davido has pointed to as vindication of the public pressure he and Osun residents applied throughout the collation process.
The allegations in this story including the claims of calls from Akpabio and Dangote, and the ₦110 billion vote-buying figure are attributed entirely to Davido’s own account in the News Central TV interview. Neither Akpabio’s office nor Dangote has publicly responded to the claims as of this writing, and the vote-buying figure has not been independently verified by INEC or other election observers.
