Meet Nnenna Esther Adeleke, the mother of two Osun governors and Davido’s grandmother

• Nnenna Esther Adeleke, born Esther Nnena Akparah, was an Igbo woman from Akwete, Abia State, who married into the Adeleke family of Ede, Osun State, and was a Senior Mother-in-Israel in the Cherubim and Seraphim Church. 

• Her sons Isiaka Adeleke and Ademola Adeleke both became elected governors of Osun State decades apart, with Isiaka serving as the state's first civilian governor and Ademola winning re-election in the 2026 governorship election. 

• Nnenna was also the mother of businessman and Adeleke University founder Adedeji Adeleke, making her the paternal grandmother of Afrobeats superstar Davido.

When people hear the name Adeleke today, several images may immediately come to mind.

For some Nigerians, it is the dancing Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke. For older people, it is the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke, who became the state's first civilian governor. 

Then there is businessman Adedeji Adeleke, founder of Adeleke University and father of Afrobeats star Davido.

But long before the Adeleke name became associated with Osun politics, Adeleke University, or Afrobeats superstar Davido, there was a woman whose life connected all three worlds.

Her name was Nnenna Esther Adeleke, born Esther Nnena Akparah. 

She was an Igbo woman from Akwete in Ukwa East Local Government Area of present-day Abia State who married into the Adeleke family of Ede, Osun State. 

Today, her story is receiving renewed attention because two of her sons became elected governors of the same state at different times.

The first was Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke.

The second is Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke, who was declared the winner of the 2026 Osun governorship election on August 16, securing a second term in office.

Nnenna was born into an Igbo family in Akwete, Abia State. Her son Adedeji's official biography identifies her as Esther Nnena Adeleke (née Akparah) and confirms that Adedeji was born to her and Raji Ayoola Adeleke in Enugu in 1957. 

She married Chief Raji Ayoola Adeleke, an Ede-born politician and labour activist who was a Second Republic senator.

He was elected in 1979 on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria and represented the old Oyo State Senatorial District 11, which included areas that are today part of Osun State. He was also conferred with the traditional title of Balogun of Ede in 1976.

That marriage brought together two different parts of Nigeria: her Igbo background and the Yoruba Adeleke family of Osun.

It was a union whose cultural legacy would continue through their children and grandchildren.

While not much is documented about her life, one of the clearest windows into Nnenna's personal life comes through her relationship with the Cherubim and Seraphim Church.

She held the title of Senior Mother-in-Israel, a respected position within the church.

When Governor Ademola Adeleke and his family held a thanksgiving service in her memory in Lagos in August 2024, the governor's spokesperson specifically described Nnenna as a former Senior Mother-in-Israel.

During the thanksgiving service, her son Adedeji Adeleke donated ₦1 billion to the Cherubim and Seraphim Church's Centenary Endowment Fund.

Her daughter, Yeyeluwa Modupe Adeleke-Sanni, was said to hold the same title at the time.

Beyond the famous people she gave birth to, Nnenna had her own identity within a religious community.

More than a decade after her death, that connection remained strong enough for her children to return to the church in her honour.

Much of Nnenna Esther Adeleke’s story can be understood through the lives of the children she raised. 

Her sons went on to build very different careers, yet each added a new chapter to the Adeleke family’s place in Nigerian public life.

Her first major connection to Osun politics came through Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke, who became the state’s first democratically elected governor in 1992. 

Osun had been created from the old Oyo State in August 1991 and was initially under military administration. 

Isiaka took office in January 1992 on the platform of the Social Democratic Party and remained governor until the military takeover in November 1993. The Osun State Government describes him as the state’s first civilian governor.

Isiaka later returned to elective politics, serving as senator for Osun West from 2007 to 2011. He died in April 2017, aged 62.

In a tribute after his death, the Osun State Government described him as a political titan and recalled his place in the state’s history.

Three decades after Isiaka first occupied the Government House, another of Nnenna’s sons, Ademola Adeleke, followed the same path. 

Ademola won the Osun governorship election in 2022 and, after a legal battle over the result, retained his mandate through the courts.

The family’s political story gained another chapter in August 2026 when Ademola, contesting under the Accord Party, was declared the winner of the governorship election. 

He polled 511,067 votes, defeating APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji, who scored 444,815 votes. The result secured Ademola a second term in office. 

RELATED: Osun election results 2026: Full breakdown of votes for Adeleke, Oyebamiji and other candidates

There was also a distinctly Igbo thread running through Ademola's identity. His mother gave him the Igbo name “Ifeanyichukwu,” commonly translated as “nothing is beyond God". 

The name became part of his public identity, and the family connection continued into the next generation: Davido later named his son Ifeanyi, a name widely reported as being in honour of his uncle Ademola.

Her son Dr Adedeji Tajudeen Adeleke built his career in business and education. Adeleke University’s official biography identifies him as the son of Raji Ayoola Adeleke and Esther Nnena Adeleke, née Akparah. 

It records that he was born in Enugu in 1957, spent part of his childhood with his maternal grandmother in eastern Nigeria, and later studied in Lagos, Ede and the United States. 

Adedeji went on to establish Adeleke University in Ede in 2011, giving the family another significant presence in education alongside his business interests.

And through Adedeji, Nnenna’s legacy reached yet another generation.

Adedeji is the father of David Adedeji Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, making Nnenna the Afrobeats star’s paternal grandmother.

It leaves a striking family story: one son became Osun’s first civilian governor, another became governor three decades later and has now secured a second term, while another built a business and educational legacy whose next generation produced one of Africa’s biggest music stars.

Although Nnenna married into the Yoruba Adeleke family of Ede, she was born into an Igbo family from Akwete in Abia State. Her grandson Davido has publicly spoken about his Igbo heritage.

In other words, her family story reflects the kind of cultural blending that has always existed across Nigeria, where marriage, migration and family ties often connect communities that are separated geographically but brought together by relationships.

Nnenna died in 2009, but her influence remains visible in the public lives of her children and grandchildren.

Her son Isiaka occupies a permanent place in Osun's political history. Her son Ademola has now secured a second elected term as governor.

Another son, Adedeji, built a major business and educational legacy. And her grandson Davido turned the Adeleke name into a globally recognised entertainment brand.

Nnenna was the matriarch of a family whose story has unfolded across generations in politics, business, education, religion and popular culture.

And with Ademola Adeleke's 2026 re-election, that family story is still being written.