Tinubu: World Honours A Giant, Fela Kuti With Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

.Says Fela lives on not only as a musician  but as fearless voice of the people, courageous philosopher and a revolutionary force against injustice

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

President Bola Tinubu has celebrated the late Afro Beat star, Fela Anikulapo Kuti for winning the interationally recognised Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

The President in a personally signed statement issued on Sunday stressed that the whole world has honoured a giant by the Grammy award won by Fela.

Tinubu described the multi talented Afro Beat star as not only a musician but a fearless voice of the people, courageous philosopher and a revolutionary against injustice who reshaped world music.

The President in the six-paragraph congratulatory message, stated, inter alia:

“The world of music has honoured a giant: Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

“Fela was more than a musician. He was a fearless voice of the people, a philosopher of freedom, and a revolutionary force whose music confronted injustice and reshaped global sound. 

“His courage, creativity, and conviction defined a generation and continue to inspire the world. In Yoruba mythology, he has transcended to a higher plane as an Orisa. He is now eternal. 

“Fela Kuti has blazed the trail with the Recording Academy of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, becoming the first African to receive this honour, though posthumously.  The award is an affirmation of his enduring global influence and the foundational role he has played in the evolution and impact of Africa on modern music. 

“He defined Afrobeat, and you can hear and see his influence in generations of Nigerian musicians and in Afrobeats and beyond.

“Fela lives.”