Afrobeats star Davido has defended his decision to highlight the abduction of 39 children and seven teachers during his performance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, insisting that Nigeria’s image should not take precedence over the safety of innocent children.
Speaking in an interview with Focus on Africa host Waihiga Mwaura, shared on Sunday, the singer explained why he wore pins bearing the names of the missing victims while performing on the global stage.
Davido explains symbolic pins worn in support of abducted pupils at World Cup event
— Vanguard Newspapers (@vanguardngrnews) July 5, 2026
Davido said he deliberately used the international platform to draw attention to Nigeria’s security challenges, arguing that remaining silent to protect the country’s reputation was unjustifiable while children were still missing.
“A lot of people don’t really want to talk about what goes on in my country simply because they want to protect the image, but there’s no image to protect if little kids are being kidnapped,” Davido said.
The award-winning artiste said that while he was honoured to perform at the World Cup event, he could not ignore the situation back home and believed he had a responsibility to raise awareness.
“As much as I was happy to do the World Cup, we also have to understand that there are things going on back home in our country, which we have the power to let the world know through our own means,” he said.
Davido added that he views music and live performances as powerful tools for speaking out on issues affecting Nigerians, particularly when victims remain missing and risk being forgotten.
“When I say our own means, where’s my power? My power is in music, performances. We have these students that have been missing, still not found. So yeah, I use my platform to project what’s really going
