LAGOS: Billionaire businessman and philanthropist, Dr Deji Adeleke, has disclosed that multiple DNA tests confirmed that his son, Afrobeats star David Adeleke (Davido), is not the biological father of a girl, Aanu, who has been at the centre of a long-running paternity controversy.
Adeleke made the disclosure on Wednesday while speaking with journalists at his residence in Lagos, explaining that DNA tests conducted at different hospitals returned negative results.
He said the matter first came to his attention in 2014, when he received a letter from a lawyer based in Ibadan, alleging that Davido had impregnated a woman, Ayo Labinjoh, and abandoned the child.
According to Adeleke, science, not sentiment, must determine paternity.
I have 14 grandchildren, so what is one more? If science proves she is my granddaughter, I will gladly accept her. But there is science — DNA, he said.
He also questioned discrepancies in documents attached to the lawyer’s letter, particularly the birth certificate, which reportedly listed both the father and mother as bearing the Adeleke surname.
“How can the mother be Adeleke?” he asked.
Adeleke revealed that three DNA tests were carried out for Davido. Two produced negative results, while the third was invalid due to sample contamination.
To rule out mistaken identity, two additional tests were conducted for Davido’s cousin, Adebayo Adeleke (B-Red), which also came back negative.
He explained that the tests were jointly arranged after he contacted the child’s mother and assured her that the family would accept the child if paternity was confirmed.
On the agreed date, the child, her mother and grandmother were brought from Ibadan to Vedic Hospital in Lagos, where saliva samples not blood were collected and sent to South Africa for analysis.
Adeleke and the child’s grandmother were designated to receive the results.
“When the result came, there was zero possibility that Davido was the girl’s father. A second test also came out negative, he said.
Despite the outcome, Adeleke disclosed that he supported the child and her mother financially for years, including sponsoring their education.
He noted that the mother later withdrew from university after two sessions, while the child completed her primary education.
The controversy resurfaced on January 15, 2025, after an Instagram account linked to Labinjoh alleged that the child had suffered bullying at school and appealed for a DNA test.
Davido dismissed the claims on social media, insisting that all DNA tests conducted had returned negative results. Labinjoh, however, countered by releasing private chats allegedly between Davido and the child.
Adeleke further alleged that a relative of the girl later informed him that some social media accounts promoting the narrative that Davido abandoned the child were created and managed by a media personality without the family’s consent.
