Entertainment
Fela becomes first African to receive posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Afrobeat maestro Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is set to make history as the first African artist to receive a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Recording Academy announced that the “King of Afrobeat” will be honoured at the 2026 Grammy Awards, marking a symbolic reconciliation between Fela’s revolutionary music and the global music establishment he fiercely criticised during his lifetime.
The award will be presented at the Special Merit Awards Ceremony on Saturday, January 31, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, a day before the main 68th Grammy Awards ceremony.
The announcement has been met with celebration across Nigeria and the international music community, with fans and artists alike hailing the recognition as long overdue for one of Africa’s most influential cultural figures.
The Recording Academy said, “Fela’s influence and catalog of music have been widely celebrated and explored, including the podcast series Fela Kuti: Fear No Man (the New Yorker’s No. 1 Podcast of 2025) and the Tony Award-winning Broadway run of Fela! The Musical from 2008 to 2010. Fela’s influence spans generations, inspiring artists such as Beyoncé, Paul McCartney and Thom Yorke, and shaping modern Nigerian Afrobeats.
A titanic sociopolitical voice, Afrobeat’s revolutionary politics brought Fela into violent conflict with successive Nigerian military regimes, which made many attempts to suppress him and once sent in the army to burn down his communal home, Kalakuta Republic.”
Fela’s son, Seun Kuti, who currently leads the iconic Egypt 80 band, described the honour as a victory not only for Afrobeat but also for politically conscious music. However, he disclosed that he would be unable to attend the ceremony in person due to travel restrictions.
“We are all proud as a family,” Seun said. “It is just a shame that I can’t be there physically to join my family to accept the honour because of travel restrictions.
“Trump has banned me because of talks of Christian genocide. Nevertheless, the family is proud. It’s a good day for African music, Afrobeat culture, and resistance music.”
The award will be formally received by Fela’s children, Yeni, Femi and Kunle Kuti, who have continued to preserve and promote his legacy through the New Afrika Shrine and other cultural platforms linked to the former Kalakuta Republic.
Seun Kuti has recently been in the spotlight following a heated public exchange with fellow Nigerian star Wizkid over debates surrounding musical greatness and legacy.
However, he used this moment of recognition to advocate unity within the music industry rather than rivalry.
“The term ‘greatest’ has a lot to do with comparison,” Seun explained. “My point has always been: don’t compare. Our artists and culture should breed cooperation, not pitch people against each other. Fela is great, and that is the truth. What we must question is the mindset of those who feel they are not great unless they are compared to others.”
Fela, who died in 1997 at the age of 58, is being honoured for creating Afrobeat, a genre that fused West African highlife, jazz, funk and traditional rhythms, while using his music as a weapon against military dictatorship, corruption and social injustice.
In announcing the award, the Recording Academy cited his “inestimable contributions” to global music and acknowledged that his sound and ideology laid the foundation for the modern Afrobeats movement currently dominating international charts.
Fela joins a distinguished list of 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, including Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan, Cher and Paul Simon.
The honour follows the 2025 induction of Fela’s 1976 album Zombie into the Grammy Hall of Fame, further cementing his enduring influence.
As Grammy weekend approaches, a special live band tribute is also scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, celebrating Fela’s radical spirit, political courage and timeless groove.
Veteran Nigerian gospel singer and songwriter, Toun Soetan, popularly known as Evangelist Shouet, has passed away at the age of 73.
The respected evangelist and gospel music icon, was widely recognised as the original composer of the popular Christian chorus ‘Darling Jesus’, a song that has remained a verse in churches across Nigeria.
Reacting to her passing, former Secretary of the Oyo State chapter of the Entertainment Writers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Kunle Bakare, described the late musician as a divinely gifted minister whose songs carried powerful spiritual messages.
“The late gospel music player will also be remembered for her music college, where she trained so many gospel music players, most of whom are reigning today,” Bakare said.
Also confirming the incident, gospel musician Peters Olaniyi Olusegun shared the news in a Facebook post.
“We just lost another legend this morning, Mummy Toun Soetan. May the Lord be with the family and Daddy Titus Soetan,” he wrote.
Beyond ‘Darling Jesus’, the late evangelist was also known for other notable songs such as ‘Ke Pe Jesu’ and ‘Cast Your Burdens’, which became widely used in Christian worship gatherings.
A popular Nigerian comedian and content creator, Broda Shaggi, has been hospitalised after allegedly sustaining a gunshot injury while filming a comedy skit in Ogun State.
According to reports, the incident occurred on Sunday afternoon beneath the Sango-Ota bridge, where the entertainer was filming a skit alongside members of his crew.
According to a police source, the comedian sustained the injury during the filming session, although the exact circumstances surrounding the shooting remain unclear.
Following the incident, members of his crew quickly rushed him to Blooming Care Hospital in the Alakuko area of Lagos State, where medical personnel administered emergency treatment.
Report further revealed that he was later transferred to Duchess Hospital located in the Government Residential Area of Ikeja for further medical attention and monitoring.
Confirming the development, the spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, Abimbola Adebisi, said the police were alerted after the injured entertainer was brought to the hospital.
She explained that detectives and a patrol team were immediately deployed to the hospital after the report was received, where they discovered the victim to be the popular skit maker known as Broda Shaggi.
Adebisi added that the entertainer was found on a stretcher with an injury to his thigh. She further noted that the alleged incident occurred in Sango-Ota, Ogun State, which falls outside the jurisdiction of the Lagos State Police Command.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, Omolola Odutola, said the incident had not been officially reported to the police in the state.
At the time of filing this report, authorities are yet to determine how the shooting occurred as investigations into the incident continue.
A Nigerian human rights lawyer, Ike Obasi, has given actress, politician, and self-proclaimed evangelist, Tonto Dikeh, 72 hours to apologize over a viral video showing her conducting a deliverance session on a school child, describing the act as abusive and a violation of the minor’s rights and dignity.
Obasi said the footage circulating on social media was deeply troubling and highlighted the need to protect children from degrading treatment.
“It is disturbing that an innocent child could be subjected to such abusive and degrading treatment under the guise of religious deliverance,” he said.
He added that such actions, capable of humiliating or traumatizing a minor, should not be tolerated.
“I hereby give Tonto Dikeh 72 hours to tender a public apology to the child involved in the video,” Obasi stated.
The lawyer warned that failure to comply would leave him no choice but to pursue legal action.
“If she fails to apologize within the stipulated period, we will take the necessary legal steps to ensure accountability and protect the rights and dignity of the minor involved,” he said.
In a related development, social media influencer and activist Vincent Otse, popularly known as Very Dark Man (VDM), also condemned Dikeh’s actions.
He described it as a violation of the child’s rights and warned her never to set foot in the school again, recalling that she had been absent when the school was left dilapidated until his non-governmental organization rehabilitated it with 30 million Naira.
VDM joined a growing chorus of influencers and activists criticizing the actress for allegedly pinning the child on a sandy floor, with her long nails pressed on the child’s eyes, under the guise of deliverance.
The incident raises pressing questions: Will relevant authorities intervene, or will it be overlooked? Has any law been broken? Will Dikeh apologize as demanded by the lawyer, and if she refuses, will legal action be taken? Only time will tell.
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