Afrogospel star Gaise Baba has thrown a public challenge at The Headies, accusing Nigeria’s biggest music awards of keeping faith-based records out of the main conversation even when those songs shake culture more than many mainstream hits.
In a lengthy open letter addressed to the Headies Organizing Committee and founder Ayo Animashaun, popularly called Uncle Ayo, the singer said he was writing from inside the industry, not as an outsider looking for a fight. He argued that gospel music is still treated like a side dish instead of being judged as music first.
“This letter is not a complaint from the outside. It is a push from someone within, who wants to see the institution function better,” he wrote.
Gaise Baba, whose real name is Akinade Ibuoye, reminded the organizers that his relationship with the awards is not new. He first attended The Headies on October 20, 2012, after a little over two years in the industry and a then-breakthrough record, Follow Follow. Days before that ceremony, he performed at the nominees’ party alongside Rayce while signed to Sanctified Records.
He still described The Headies as the biggest and most recognized music awards ceremony out of Nigeria. That stature, he said, is why the institution must treat every nominated category with the same respect.
His sharpest argument is about how songs are boxed. A rap record, he insisted, remains a rap record even when the lyrics talk about faith.
“A rap record is a rap record. It does not stop being rap because of what the artiste chose to rap about. Whether the record is about money, fame, sex, debauchery, or faith, the craft, pen game, cadence, delivery, and the flow are what makes it a rap record, not the subject matter,” he wrote.
He said a gospel-leaning rap song that is only allowed into “gospel” or “inspirational” categories is quietly pushed out of a conversation it has earned. The same rule, he added, should apply across genres. Art should be judged as art before it is filtered by message.
The letter also revisits a wound from the 17th Headies in Lagos on April 27, 2025. Gaise Baba was nominated for Best Inspirational Single with Particularly, featuring veteran singer Tope Alabi. The other nominees were Anendlessocean, Mercy Chinwo, Dunsin Oyekan and Limoblaze. Mercy Chinwo later emerged winner of the category.
His team showed up. They visited the Hip Hop World office in Ikeja for media rounds, attended the pre-award reception at the U.S. Consul General’s residence, and sat through the ceremony with veteran producer ID Cabasa. Anendlessocean also attended in person.
Limoblaze, who is based outside Nigeria, could not make it.
Then the category was skipped on stage.
“The award wasn’t presented on the night: not in front of the audience, and not in front of the people who had shown up. That, to me, is disregard to the creatives involved,” he wrote.
Reports from that night back the core of his complaint. Several categories, including Best Inspirational Single, were not called live after the show ran late and ended in the early hours. Headies organizers have previously blamed time pressure when categories were left off stage.
He compared the slight to the old Grammy debate over Best African Performance not being presented on stage. If a category is announced and artistes are nominated, he said, time should be planned for that award to be called in full view.
The timing of the letter is not accidental. Nominees for the 18th Headies were released this week. The ceremony is billed for Toronto, Canada, on October 25, 2026. Gaise Baba is back on the inspirational list, this time for No Turning Back 2 with Lawrence Oyor. The other nominees are Sunmisola Agbebi featuring Yinka Okeleye, Lawrence Oyor, Sinach, EmmaOMG and Mercy Chinwo.
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That is the same lane he says is too small for records that have already broken into the streets. No Turning Back II became one of the most talked-about faith records of 2025, crossing from church playlists into mainstream conversation and racking up huge YouTube numbers. He also pointed to Favor, asking the public a direct question.
“How many records released in the current year under review have had a greater ‘cultural impact’, across the length and breadth of this country and maybe even beyond, than FAVOR or NO TURNING BACK II? Shall we count?”
His most viral line is the one likely to keep the argument alive:
“If a song that explores sexual desire and the objectification of a woman’s body is celebrated for its artistic value and allowed full sway in the industry’s ocean, why should the one on faith be restricted to an aquarium?”
Gaise Baba has spent years pushing that idea. He calls himself a culture architect and has argued that Afrogospel should compete in the same rooms as Afrobeats, rap and pop. He has also said gospel should be treated as a message that can live inside any sound, not a sealed-off genre.
The Headies introduced the Inspirational category in 2022, a move he said he applauded at the time. His letter now asks the organizers to take the next step: judge faith records on craft and impact, give every nominated category its stage moment, and stop treating gospel success like a special enclosure.