Nigeria’s celebrated live band leader and music icon, Akinloye Tofowomo, popularly known as Akiin Shuga, has died in New Brunswick, Canada, at the age of 50.

The death of Tofowomo, the managing director of Shuga Entertainment and the founder of the Shuga Limb Foundation, was announced in a statement by his family on Monday.

“It is with profound solemnity and total submission to the will of God that the family of Akinloye Tofowomo (Akiin Shuga)—revered music icon, grandmaster, and managing director of Shuga Limb Foundation and Shuga Entertainment, Nigeria’s most prestigious live band—announces his passing,” the statement read in part.

“To countless admirers at home and abroad, he was both an inspiration and an institution: a true king in his art.”

The family has requested privacy as they come to terms with the loss and said details of his memorial arrangements will be announced in due course.

He is survived by his wife, children, siblings, and mother.

With over three decades in his career, he built the Shuga Band into one of the country’s most famous live acts.

After surviving a life-altering accident that left him paralysed from the waist down, he continued to lead his band and founded the Shuga Limb Foundation to support people living with disabilities, a legacy that earned him national admiration.

Born on January 6, 1975, Tofowomo studied sociology at the University of Lagos.

In the early 1990s, he founded the Shuga Band, a household name in Nigeria’s entertainment scene. He was known for his commanding stage presence and knowledge of diverse musical genres, from highlife to soul, pop, and Afrobeat.