President Bola Tinubu has paid tribute to late Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo Kuti following the Recording Academy’s posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Grammy Awards.

The President made the remarks in a statement shared on his X account on Sunday after the award was presented in Los Angeles, United States.

“Fela was more than a musician,” Tinubu said

“He was a fearless voice of the people, a philosopher of freedom, and a revolutionary force whose music confronted injustice and reshaped global sound,” the President added.

Tinubu said the honour confirmed Fela’s lasting global influence and his role in shaping modern African music.

“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 said.

The President also said Fela’s influence continues to live on across generations of musicians.

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

Fela was honoured with the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award nearly three decades after his death.

Members of the Kuti family, including Femi Kuti, received the award on his behalf at the ceremony.

Popular Nigerian singer Davido was also seen with the Kuti family at the event in Los Angeles.

Reacting to the recognition, Fela’s grandson, Made Kuti, described his grandfather as a rare musical originator.

“He was on the same professional level as the best of the best in the world that have ever existed,” Made Kuti said.

“There are not many people you can trace back as an originator of a style of music that would take that risk and be so creative that it truly developed into a genre that lives on its own,” he added.

Fela Kuti, who invented Afrobeat in the 1970s by blending jazz, funk and African rhythms, remained a strong critic of military rule and social injustice in Nigeria until his death in 1997.