By Joan Tendo The Nigerian music icon Burna Boy his full names Damini Ogulu has on Sunday June 28, won the Best International Act Category, in the 2020 BET Awards that were held virtually [online] in Los Angeles . The awards were held virtually due to the COVID-19 PANDEMIC, and was televised via online platforms across the world. The BET Awards which celebrates Black people in Film, Music and Arts was held on. American comedian, Amanda Seales, hosted the awards. Burna Boy, who was nominated alongside Rema in the same category, beat the likes of Innoss’B (DR Congo), Sho Madjozi (SouthAfrica), Stormzy (United Kingdom), Dave (United Kingdom), Ninho (France) and S.Pri Noir (France) to claim the highly coveted award. Accepting his award, the African Giant spoke on African development, saying, ”Second time and I appreciate it. I will like to use this opportunity to say that sometime around 1835, there was admission to turn the nation of Africa into a dominated nation. Now is the time to return and go back to the royalty that we were because in order for black lives to matter, Africa must matter.” Some of his songs that made him famous in order to win this awards are; Odogwu, Gbona, Anybody, Ye and On the Low. This win is the Port Harcourt-born singer’s second consecutive BET: Best International Act win. Last year he was nominated alongside Mr Eazi, AKA, Dave, Giggs, Dosseh and Aya Nakaruma. The ceremony paid tributes to Kobe Bryant,Little Richard and featured performances by Alicia Keys, Chloe x Halle and Megan Thee Stallion among others. Beyoncé was also honoured with the Humanitarian Award for her decades-long commitment to philanthropy. Many African talents got a nod in this year’s awards which included Wizkid who was nominated under the category of the best collaboration with Beyonce, Blue Ivy Carter and Saint Brown Skin Girl, Zimbabwe fast rising star Sha-Sha who was nominated under the Viewer’s Choice Best New International act.
