Condolences are in order for Nigerian Afrobeat artist, Davido (David Adeleke), and chef, Chioma Rowland. The couple lost their three-year-old son, David Ifeanyi Adedeji Adeleke, due to an apparent drowning in the swimming pool in the family’s home. A property in the Banana Island area of Lagos, Nigeria.
He was reported to have gone underwater for a prolonged period of time before being retrieved and rushed to a nearby hospital. Unfortunately, he was announced dead on arrival
According to Lagos police spokesman Ben Hundeyin, who confirmed Ifeanyi’s death to the Daily Mail, neither parents were home at the time of the incident, however their child was under the care of eight domestic workers. The staff are currently being interviewed by police. “Domestic staff at Davido’s home have been taken to the station to give their own account of what happened,” Hundeyin said. “If after they all give their own account of what happened and after preliminary investigations, if any one of them is found culpable, the person will now be placed under arrest.”
The infant, who was named after Davido, was welcomed to the world in 2019. The reported incident took place just a few days after Ifeanyi turned three. Davido took to his Instagram October 20th, where he posted a pic of his son on his birthday captioned, “I pray with all my heart that God grants you perfect health and pure happiness for as long as humanly possible. You will grow to be greater than me, happy birthday son”. Chioma’s last post on Instagram was also of Ifeanyi for his birthday. Davido has two other children, older daughters Aurora Imade Adeleke, age 6, and Hailey Veronica Adeleke, age 5.
Davido is a global award-winning Nigerian musician best known for mixing traditional African sound with global mainstream Pop in songs such as “If“, and “Fall“.
Neither parent has spoken out publicly about the unfortunate incident. Fellow Nigerian figures such as Lagos governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Peter Obi who is one of leading contenders in Nigeria’s presidential election, and Williams Uchemba have shown their support via social media sharing their condolences.
