Mohbad’s Death A Great Loss To Music Industry, Says Chocolate City CEO

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of one of Nigeria’s foremost record labels, Chocolate City Group, Abuchi Peter Ugwu, has stated that the death of Promise IleriOluwa Aloba, a.k.a Mohbad, was a very sad one, describing the young musician as a great musical export.

LEADERSHIP reprots that the death of Mohbad has continued to generate ripples and mixed feelings on the social media since his sudden death on Tuesday last week.

The events leading to his demise and and subsequent disclosures by his associates, have caused tensions and protests by admirers and aggrieved celebrities, who have initiated a campaign called #JusticeforMohbad.

They have demanded the Police authorities and other security agencies to look introspectively into the matter and bring the suspected culprits, particularly Singer Naira Marley and associates in the Marlian Music label, to book.

However, speaking as a guest on LEADERSHIP TV podcast’s programme, ‘The Big Issue’ on Tuesday evening, the Chocolate City Group top executive, who weighed in on the development, among other issues in the industry, stated that the police authorities were on top of the matter, calling for calm as the nation and stakeholders await the outcome of the investigation.

“Mohbad loss is a big one in the industry because he was a talent and had huge potential to become a star in the Street Hop genre of Nigerian music. I don’t have all the details, I know his manager and the death of the Street Hop singer is really sad and my heart is with his family. We hope this sad event will not happen again, I believe there are better ways that music labels should deal with their signess and it should not have resulted into alleged victimization as we hear from different quarters,” said the music executive.

Speaking on the way forward in settling conflicts between promoters and artistes, the Chocolate City CEO whose music label celebrated 20th anniversary recently, said during the interview that dialogue was the best option.

Ugwu noted that record labels, which should have the interest of their signees at heart, will act in a way that peace is maintained.

“Artistes are signed to their record labels for the company to recoup its investment after investing on the artistes. When there is conflict, finding a resolution peacefully is always the best solution and I urge all parties – record label owners and their signees to embrace dialogue in resolving conflicts as fightings won’t solve it,” Ugwu reiterate.

Mohbad, formerly signed to Marlian Records music label owned by street hop singer, Naira Marley, died last week Tuesday in controversial circumstances and accusations were being pointed at the deceased’s former record label, which is being accused of victimising him for leaving the music label, a development believed to have led to his sudden death.