By Akin Samuel Kayode.
On the 10th of August, 2026, in the heat of the Osun governorship election, David Adeleke, the world-famous Davido, typed with his own verified fingers on X, and I quote verbatim: “Anybody supporting APC in Osun state is an enemy of progress! Lessons will be learnt this weekend.” In that same week he also shouted, “I CAN NEVER SUPPORT APC IN MY LIFE!!!” That was not a parody account. That was Davido. Nephew to Governor Ademola Adeleke. Chief campaigner, chief mobilizer, chief insulter of anybody who dared to wear broom in Osun.
Nigerians believed him. Osun youth believed him. They carried his tweet like a Bible verse. They fought on Twitter, they fought on the streets, they fought at the polling units. Some were beaten. Some lost their shops. Some slept in police stations because they were defending Imole against APC. They believed they were fighting progress against enemies of progress. Davido told them so.
Fast forward two months. On the 13th of October, 2026, the APC Presidential Campaign Council released its list. There, boldly typed, was the name of the same Imole they fought for — Governor Ademola Adeleke, appointed as Osun State Coordinator for President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign and Coordinator of the City Boy Movement in Osun. On the 14th, he appeared in Abuja at the Banquet Hall, dancing his Imole dance for APC leaders, declaring “We will sing and dance back to Aso Rock after President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.”
So we must now ask the logical question that Davido himself framed for us. If anybody supporting APC in Osun is an enemy of progress, is Governor Ademola Adeleke now an enemy of progress? If Davido can never support APC in his life, will he now disown his uncle? Or was the tweet never about principle, but about packaging? Our elders say, “Enu ti a fi je obe gbigbona, a fi n fun efin” — it is the same mouth we use to eat hot soup that we use to blow cold air. Davido’s mouth has blown hot and cold.
This is why I said from the beginning that the Osun election was not PDP vs APC, it was APC primaries. One faction wore an Accord, the other wore APC. Both factions are children of the same father — Bola Tinubu’s political dynasty in the Southwest. Adeleke never left APC. He only changed uniform to win an election that APC as a brand could not win in Osun after Oyetola’s failure. Davido knew this 100 percent. That is why he was shouting “enemy of progress” — he knew that if Osun people knew his uncle was already negotiating with APC in Ibadan at Bisi Akande’s house, they would not vote.
Let us be honest about the Adeleke family business model. When it is time for Osun guber, they are PDP, they are Imole, they are progressives, they are enemies of APC. When it is time for the presidential election, they are APC, they are City Boy, they are Tinubu’s coordinators. This is not politics. This is business. Davido provides the youth crowd, Deji Adeleke provides the money, Ademola provides the dancing body. The product changes depending on who is buying. Our people say, “Alata to so wipe ata won o dun, owo lo n wa” — the pepper seller who says her pepper is not sweet is only looking for money.
And what an insult to Osun people! The same people who shed blood to chase APC away in 2022 and 2026 are now told that their Governor will deliver the same Osun to Tinubu in 2027. The same people Davido called enemies of progress if they supported APC are now expected to clap for a Governor who is now DG of APC in Osun. You insulted Osun people, you spat on their sacrifice. That is what Nigerians are saying online, and they are right. You cannot tell people to die for Imole against APC in August and tell them to dance for APC in October.
Davido is now facing boycott threats for his December concerts at the National Theatre — Oriade: The Residency, December 17 to 19. Fans are saying they will not buy tickets, that he should let APC members and his uncle’s new City Boy Movement fill the seats. And can you blame them? You told them APC supporters are enemies of progress, now your uncle is the Chief Enemy of Progress according to your own dictionary. You told them you can never support APC in your life, now your family is coordinating APC. The Yoruba say, “Bi o ba soro eke, o ma ranti” — if you tell lies, you must have a good memory. Davido forgot his own tweet, but the internet never forgets.
What makes this more painful is the silence. As at press time, Davido has not apologized, has not explained, has not deleted. He posted a video of his uncle dancing on Instagram Story as if it is a joke. It is not a joke. Politics is not skit-making. When you label an entire party’s supporters in a state as enemies of progress, you are creating enmity that can lead to violence. When you then join those same enemies two months later, you show you never believed what you typed. You were just using Osun youth as foot soldiers for a family negotiation.
Governor Adeleke himself should be more ashamed. You won on the Accord Party platform after the PDP crisis. You swore to Osun people that you are Imole, that you will never allow APC to win. Now you are the Coordinator of APC. So if APC is the enemy of progress in Osun, and you are coordinating APC in Osun, who are you? Are you now coordinating enemies of progress? Or have you always been the enemy of progress wearing a progress uniform? The river that forgets its source will dry up. You forgot the source of your victory.
This is the tragedy of Nigerian celebrity politics. Davido can tweet in the morning that APC is evil and in the afternoon his uncle joins APC, and we are expected to keep streaming his songs. No. Accountability must reach everybody. If you use your celebrity to call people enemies of progress for supporting a party, you must have the courage to call your uncle an enemy of progress when he joins that same party. Otherwise, you are the enemy of progress.
Let us apply Davido’s logic fully. Lesson was supposed to be learnt that weekend in August. What was the lesson? That APC must not win Osun. The lesson was learnt. Accord won. But what is the lesson now in October? That Accord’s winner will deliver Osun to APC for President? So the lesson was fake. The lesson was a scam. The lesson was a family strategy to keep Osun as a bargaining chip for Abuja. Osun was never about progress. Osun was about positioning the Adeleke family for 2027.
And to those defending this with “politics is strategic, alliances are normal” — keep quiet. Strategy does not require you to call people enemies of progress. Strategy does not require you to say “I can never support APC in my life.” If it was a strategy, you would have said “We are open to alliances.” But you did not. You chose insults. You chose moral high ground. You called people enemies. Now you have joined the enemies. That is not a strategy. That is hypocrisy wearing designer shoes.
The biggest skeleton in this cupboard is not even Adeleke’s defection. It is the revelation that there was never a difference. PDP, Accord, APC — all na same tailor. The tailor just changed the style for Osun market. And Davido was the model who wore the new style and told us it is progress. Now the tailor has shown us the old style again and says it is also progress. Nigerians are not fools. We now know where the real enemies of progress are buried. They are buried in the family that calls others enemies of progress in the morning and dines with them at night.
So I will end with Davido’s own words, and I will return them to him and his uncle. You said anybody supporting APC in Osun is an enemy of progress. Your uncle is now DG of APC campaign council in Osun. Lessons will be learnt this weekend. Indeed, lessons have been learnt. We have learnt that when a musician becomes a politician, his lyrics become lies. We have learnt that Imole that was supposed to chase darkness has gone to carry torch for darkness in Abuja. And we have learnt that in Osun, the real enemy of progress is the man who calls others enemy of progress.
Akin Samuel Kayode.
Member, The Narrative Force.
