Davido Akpabio Dangote tweet — Afrobeats star Davido has revealed that Senate President Godswill Akpabio and billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote personally called him during the Osun State governorship election, pleading with him to delete a tweet that exposed a sudden halt in INEC’s result uploads. The singer refused, and he now says that decision helped protect his uncle’s victory.
“INEC was uploading results every 30mins, then suddenly stopped. I knew they wanted to start manipulation, I heard about Akpabio so I put out the tweet. They all called me to delete, even uncle Aliko Dangote. But Omo.. no o,” Davido said.
Consequently, the revelation has reignited public debate over how much influence celebrities can wield during a contested election. As results were being collated on August 15, Davido closely monitored the Independent National Electoral Commission’s IReV portal, and he grew alarmed when uploads froze after reaching roughly 87 percent completion. Therefore, he took to X to demand answers, warning that delay “only means one thing,” namely an attempt to manipulate the outcome.
Meanwhile, Davido claims he later learned that Akpabio was pressuring the collation centre directly, so he escalated his own posts rather than staying quiet. Because he had built a large following throughout the campaign, his messages spread quickly, and pressure mounted on INEC to resume publishing results. As a result, according to the singer, powerful figures reached out almost immediately to ask him to stand down.
Notably, Davido has also named Dangote among those who called him. He explained that even his “uncle Aliko” urged him to reconsider, yet he held firm and refused to remove the post until INEC made an official announcement. “I said, ‘Uncle, I’m not deleting until the INEC announcement,'” he added, according to earlier remarks he made in a separate interview with News Central TV.
Furthermore, Davido tied his defiance directly to the outcome of the election. His uncle, Governor Ademola Adeleke, ultimately secured victory, and the singer has since argued that transparency online prevented a quieter, less scrutinized manipulation of the results. Additionally, he claimed that more than ₦110 billion changed hands in an effort to sway voters, though he did not provide independent verification of that figure.
However, not everyone views Davido’s intervention as purely heroic. Critics argue that a private citizen inserting himself into live result collation, regardless of intention, blurs the line between civic advocacy and personal interest, especially given his direct family tie to the winning candidate. Nevertheless, supporters counter that his visibility gave ordinary voters a louder voice at a moment when institutional channels appeared to stall.
Since the story broke, reactions have poured in from across Nigerian social media, with many users praising Davido for standing his ground against senior political and business figures. Others, meanwhile, have called for a fuller account of what actually happened inside the collation centre, arguing that allegations alone should not settle the matter.
Ultimately, Davido’s account adds a striking layer to an already tense election cycle, one where celebrity influence increasingly shapes how Nigerians follow, question, and pressure their electoral institutions. Whether or not his claims about Akpabio and Dangote receive further confirmation, his refusal to delete the post has already become a defining moment of the Osun contest.
For now, INEC has not issued a direct response to Davido’s latest claims, and neither Akpabio’s office nor Dangote’s has commented publicly on the alleged phone calls. As scrutiny of the election continues, more details may still emerge in the days ahead.
Tags: Davido, INEC, Godswill Akpabio, Aliko Dangote, Osun election, Ademola Adeleke, election manipulation, IReV portal, Nigerian politics, result collation
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