Israel Afeare, the logistics manager to Afrobeats star David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, has declared support for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election. Afeare, widely known as Israel DMW, made the declaration in an Instagram post, arguing that Nigeria fares better under northern leadership. His endorsement comes days after Davido’s uncle, Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, formally joined President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign, a move that has left the singer facing criticism online.
“It is always far better when a Northern Nigerian rules,” Afeare wrote. He questioned what he described as a ₦15 trillion contract awarded to one person, though he did not name the contract or the beneficiary, and the claim could not be independently verified. “I’m voting for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,” he added, urging the Independent National Electoral Commission to allow Nigerians to freely choose their leaders.
Afeare also took a swipe at the ruling party’s prospects in Edo State. He told Nigerians to disregard any 2.5 million votes coming out of the state, a figure close to Edo’s entire voter register of about 2.5 million in the 2023 general election. He argued that Adams Oshiomhole, despite winning all 18 local government areas as governor, could not deliver 500,000 votes to his party, and that the party lost Edo in two presidential elections. Results from 2019 and 2023 show the APC did lose the state on both occasions, first to the PDP and then to the Labour Party’s Peter Obi.
The endorsement lands in a family and political story that has drawn national attention. Davido campaigned heavily for his uncle during the August 15 Osun governorship election, clashing openly with APC chieftains and declaring at the time that he could never support the party. Adeleke, who left the PDP for the Accord Party before the poll, won with 511,067 votes against 444,815 for the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji. The 66,252 vote margin was considerably wider than the 2022 contest, when Adeleke won with 403,371 votes.
Weeks after his re-election, Adeleke was named Osun coordinator of the Tinubu campaign despite remaining in the Accord Party. On Wednesday, October 14, he attended the inauguration of the APC Presidential Campaign Council at the Presidential Villa in Abuja and pledged to mobilise support for the President. Before his speech, the governor danced to one of his nephew’s songs, a moment that spread quickly across social media.
Davido has tried to separate himself from his uncle’s choice. The singer has said the governor’s support for Tinubu does not mean he will back the APC in 2027, while also stating that he has not settled on a preferred candidate. He noted that he supported Atiku when both were in the PDP and backed the APC in 2015, when the party emerged from a merger involving his late uncle.
The numbers from Osun suggest the governor’s alignment could matter in the South West. Adeleke’s campaign council has set a target of 1.5 million votes for Tinubu in the state, yet only 1,005,800 votes were cast in the August governorship election, out of 2,339,233 registered voters. That puts turnout at about 43 per cent. Atiku’s party, the African Democratic Congress, polled 17,180 votes in the same election.
Afeare’s argument for northern leadership also touches a sensitive nerve in Nigerian politics. Debates over rotating the presidency between North and South have shaped every election since 1999, and Tinubu, a southerner, is seeking a second term against Atiku, who is from Adamawa State in the North East. Supporters of power rotation have long argued that the South should complete eight years before the presidency returns to the North.
The presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled for Saturday, January 16, 2027, under a revised INEC timetable that followed the Electoral Act, 2026. Campaigns opened on August 19, 2026, leaving about three months before Nigerians go to the polls. Neither the Tinubu campaign nor Davido had publicly responded to Afeare’s post as of Saturday.