Founder of The Headies, Ayo Animashaun, has criticised Nigerian music artistes who submit their works for consideration at international award ceremonies but fail to enter them for Nigeria’s leading music awards.
Animashaun expressed his displeasure in posts on his Instagram Story on Thursday, accusing some artistes of publicly celebrating submissions to foreign award bodies while ignoring The Headies and later complaining about being excluded from its nominations.
He questioned why artistes would seek recognition abroad without participating in local award schemes designed to celebrate achievements in Nigeria’s music industry.
In a follow-up post, Animashaun defended the decisions of The Headies, saying the organisers could stand by their choices when artistes and sponsors understood and appreciated the vision behind the awards.
Animashaun wrote via Instagram story, “Tom, Dick and Harry will submit entries to foreign award bodies that don’t even care about them and proudly post about it. But these same people won’t submit their entries to the Headies, yet they’ll complain about not being nominated. Funny..”
He also maintained that while people were entitled to their opinions, not every opinion carried equal weight.
His comments came as Nigerian musicians submitted their works for consideration ahead of the 69th Grammy Awards, with artistes including Davido, Asake, Tems, Ayra Starr and Burna Boy among those attracting attention over their international award campaigns.
Meanwhile, organisers of The Headies recently postponed the 18th edition of the ceremony from October 23, 2026, to April 10 and 11, 2027, in Toronto, Canada. They said the change would allow them to expand activities across Nigeria and Canada before the event.
The controversy has renewed debate about the need for Nigerian artistes to support local award platforms as Afrobeats continues to gain international recognition.
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