Multiple DNA tests have conclusively shown that Nigerian Afrobeats star David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, is not the biological father of a teenage girl at the centre of a long-running paternity dispute, the singer’s father, Dr Deji Adeleke, has confirmed.
Dr Adeleke, a billionaire businessman and philanthropist, addressed journalists at his Lagos home on Wednesday to set the record straight after renewed attention on the matter on social media. He said the dispute first emerged in 2014 when he received a letter from a lawyer in Ibadan claiming that Davido had impregnated a woman, Ayo Labinjoh, resulting in the birth of a girl named Anuoluwapo, known publicly as Anu.
To settle the matter scientifically, Dr Adeleke explained that a series of DNA tests were carried out over the years. In total, five separate tests were conducted, three involving Davido himself and two involving his cousin, singer B-Red (Adebayo Adeleke), to rule out any confusion due to similar names. All five tests returned negative results, conclusively excluding the singer as the child’s biological father.
“The result stated that the probability of paternity was zero per cent,” Dr Adeleke said, emphasising that DNA evidence is definitive and unchanging. “If science proves she is my granddaughter, I would happily welcome her, but DNA is DNA.”
Dr Adeleke also disclosed that he had personally assisted with the girl’s education and welfare in the past, paying school fees and covering expenses without informing Davido or other family members, saying the gesture was humanitarian rather than an admission of paternity.
The matter resurfaced recently after an Instagram account, which Dr Adeleke has suggested may be run by a third party without family consent, posted a plea by the girl for another DNA test, claiming she faced bullying and ridicule at school for not knowing her father.
Davido himself has publicly denied the claim on social media, noting that the multiple tests already conducted confirm he is not her father and urging critics to “go and find her father”.
Despite calls from some quarters for full release of DNA test reports, Dr Adeleke refused, citing privacy and security concerns around exposing genetic data of both Davido and the minor.
The renewed public interest in the dispute has sparked debate online, but the Adeleke family maintains that the science is clear and that Davido’s paternity has been resolved through rigorous testing.
