Afrogospel artiste Gaise Baba has written an open letter to The Headies Organizing Committee, calling for greater respect and fair treatment of gospel and faith-based music within Nigeria’s biggest music awards.
In the letter dated 28 August 2026, Gaise Baba, a leading voice in Afrogospel, recounted his long history with the awards, noting he first attended in 2012.
While acknowledging The Headies as the most recognised music ceremony in Nigeria, he expressed concern that gospel records are often confined to “Inspirational” or “Gospel” categories rather than judged purely on artistic merit across mainstream ones.
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He highlighted a personal experience from the previous year: after being nominated in the Inspirational Music category for his 2024 single Particularly (featuring Tope Alabi), the category was not presented on stage despite nominees attending the ceremony. Gaise Baba described this as disregard for the creatives involved.
The singer argued that a rap song remains rap regardless of its subject matter; whether faith, money or otherwise and urged awards bodies to honour music for its craft before filtering by theme. He closed by questioning whether any recent records had matched the cultural impact of tracks such as Favor or No Turning Back II.