Davido’s ‘Shambles’ Comments on Nigeria Strategic, Timed

Ferdinand Ekechukwu

ith a hint of an album in the works for release early 2025, and as headliner in an upcoming music festival next month, superstar artiste David Adeleke, aka Davido is most likely to remain in the news following widespread backlash his remarks generated recently about the state of the Nigerian economy which he describes as in “shambles”.

Speaking during an appearance on The Big Homies House podcast in the US earlier, the globally acclaimed singer had urged Black Americans to reconsider relocating to Nigeria due to economic difficulties.

“It is not cool back home. The economy is in shambles,” the award winning singer said, among other things.

The Afrobeats artiste would receive massive backlash from media personalities and public figures after the interview went viral as much as several prominent celebrities and music executives like Paul Okoye, Tiwa Sawage, Rugged Man, took to their various social media handles to voice their concerns and defend the ‘Fem’ crooner.

While many of his fans/followers hailed him for being vocal, he expressed concerns that his shows in Nigeria might be cancelled due to the remarks. The statement, however, continued to be a subject of criticism from various quarters. Reacting to the backlash in a tweet on Monday, the Grammy nominee said in a post, “God Bless Nigeria”.

Unfazed by the backlash, Davido further took to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday to defend his position while hitting back at critics in a series of posts. Davido maintained his position as a “real ambassador” of Nigeria, he wrote. In a follow-up post, Davido alleged threats to cancel his show in Lagos this December over his remarks.

He wrote, “Dem say dem go cancel my show cus of my interview … loooool. I don’t have to perform in Nigeria.” Preceding his scathing remarks, Davido emphasised that he is originally from Atlanta, USA, as he was born there. However, due to his cultural ties, he identifies with Nigeria, his parents’ homeland.

Davido also mentioned that he is a proud Atlanta native, revealing that all his children were born in the same Atlanta hospital where he was born in 1992. He also said that his brothers and sisters were all born in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Since rising to fame in 2012, Davido has become one of Africa’s most influential artistes.

Interestingly, one is of the view that Davido’s appearance on the foreign podcast where his infamous comment about the Nigerian economy started was strategic and subtly timed to blight his rival, Wizkid’s shine of his sixth studio album, Morayo, which dropped just on Friday, November 22, 2024.

While Davido’s trending podcast clip surfaced about same time the Wizkid album was released and has remained a trending issue online and on the entertainment scene. Prior to Morayo release, Wizkid had tapped into his feud with Davido, reigniting controversy, promoting Morayo, which was before now the talk of social media.