Carter Efe Says He Is The Machala Now, And Picks Davido
Lagos · Sunday 13 September 2026
Carter Efe has said he is the Machala the streets now recognise, not Wizkid, and that he will never betray Davido. The claim arrives with a nickname attached to one of Nigeria's biggest artists and a pledge of allegiance to another.
The name he is reaching for
Machala is Wizkid's, in the sense that a nickname belongs to anybody, which is to say loosely and by consensus. Carter Efe's career was built on a song about Wizkid, which makes the claim less an insult than a business decision about which camp pays better attention.
What each side gets
| Who | What they get |
|---|---|
| Carter Efe | A weekend of coverage, at no cost |
| Davido's camp | A vocal supporter they did not have to pay |
| Wizkid | Nothing, and will almost certainly say nothing |
| The blogs | A story with a headline already written |
Three of the four rows are why this keeps happening.
Declaring loyalty to one of the two biggest artists in the country is not a friendship. It is a position in a market.
The bit that is actually his to control
Whether any of it converts. Carter Efe has a real audience and a proven ability to get attention, and attention is the scarce input in Nigerian music. What he has not yet built is the thing that outlasts the news cycle, and no amount of claiming somebody else's nickname produces it.
Reporting: Gistmania, The Gazelle News and Gistlover.
Read next
- Peter Obi Explained His Money, And Davido Had A View
- Three Years After Mohbad, Bella Shmurda Is Still Writing To Him
- A Designer Has Said Why International Models Skip Lagos
Play it loud, wear it louder. Na Who Talk Am and the rest of the TalkTalkNigeria store ship worldwide. Naira pricing here.
