Afrobeats star, David Adeleke, better known as Davido, has come under criticism from the 2027 presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, following the singer’s recent meeting with minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Davido was in attendance on Thursday when his uncle, Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, visited Wike at his residence in Abuja.
The visit came days after the governor secured re-election in the August 15 governorship election.
A 16-second video from the meeting circulating on social media showed Davido engaging Wike in a light-hearted conversation about the outcome of the election.
In the footage, Davido, dressed in brown traditional attire, repeatedly told the minister, “I won. I beat you guys.”
Wike, who was seated and dressed in a white shirt, appeared to reject the claim, responding, “No, no.”
“You beat us?” Wike asked at one point, prompting Davido to insist, “I beat you.”
The exchange generated laughter among those present before Davido eventually prostrated before Wike and embraced him, drawing applause and cheers from the gathering.
The interaction appeared to be a playful reference to the outcome of the Osun election, in which Governor Adeleke defeated the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Oyebamiji.
However, the meeting has drawn criticism from Sowore, who questioned Davido’s decision to fraternise with Wike against the backdrop of the violence and deaths reported before and during the election.
Reacting in a post on X on Friday, Sowore described the incident as an example of political actors putting their interests above public concerns.
“Nigerian political hustlers will deceive the public, and the gullible will swallow the deception whole,” Sowore wrote.
He added that Davido was “genuflecting before Nyesom Wike” barely a week after what he described as a politically charged election in Osun State.
According to Sowore, the election was “marred by deadly violence and the loss of scores of lives,” accusing political actors of masking their interests behind public statements and confrontations.
“Behind all the public grandstanding, insults, and manufactured outrage, these political actors know exactly where their interests converge,” he said.
Sowore further labelled the actors “dissemblers,” “gerrymanderers,” “carpetbaggers,” “political hustlers” and “lying machines,” arguing that “when their interests are at stake, the masks come off.”
The criticism comes amid reports of violence linked to the Osun election, with supporters of the APC and Accord Party reportedly killed before and during the poll.
Recall that the Centre for Information and Technology Development (CJID) Conflict Tracker, confirmed that at least 34 election-related violent incidents and 18 deaths were recorded in Osun State from May 2026 ahead of the August 15 poll.
The tracker noted that the figures differed from other accounts, including figures attributed to the Nigeria Police Force and casualty figures released by political parties.
APC campaign council had alleged that 12 of its supporters were killed within a 24-hour period, including five reportedly killed at a weekend rally and seven others during preparations for a grand rally around the Igbogi area of Ilesa.
Similarly, the national chairman of Accord Party, Maxwell Mgbudem, claimed that 29 party members were killed and several others injured in separate incidents linked to the political crisis.
The state police command has not confirmed if any suspect had been arrested in connection to the pre-election violence.
