Audu Maikori ‘stepping down’ as CEO of Chocolate City Music

Audu Maikori CEO of Chocolate City Music has announced that he will be stepping down from his chief executive role of the music company.

Maikori (pictured, third from right) made the announcement at the Nigerian Entertainment Conference organized by NET newspaper, which took place at the Eko Hotel and Suites on Wednesday.

“It’s been 10 years and 10 years of hard work and challenges. There are times when I woke up and I thought I don’t want to go to the office the next day,” he said.

“Chocolate city, over the years, has also grown into a strong entity. Many of you know about Chocolate City and not about the Chocolate City group itself, which owns four other subsidiaries. There’s the Chocolate City Music, which you know. Then there is Chocolate City Media. There’s Chocolate City Events and there is a company that focuses on social media engagement for third parties.

“And I have been on this journey for 10 years and after 10 years I have to retire. Well, I will be stepping down as CEO of Chocolate City Music effective from June 2015. And the reason is that I feel that the new generation has so much to offer. I think that if you don’t pass the baton and decide to hold on to it for too long. you may become too old and creaky to even run the race.

“Some of our media companies refuse to pass the baton and mentor others but we at Chocolate City want to be different. I will be making an announcement in June about who shall be replacing me as CEO of Chocolate City music. But in the interim, I just want to say thank you all.”

The lawyer founded the company in 2005 with Paul Okeugo and Yahaya Maikori, and it has since grown to become one of the biggest and most successful African music labels.

The label is the corporate home of a large roster of artistes such as M.I, Femi Kuti, Ice Prince, DJ Caise, Pryse, Nosa, Victoria Kimani, Dice Ailes , Koker, Loose Kaynon and the returning Jesse Jagz.

It is also significant to note that in 2012, business mogul Hakeem Bello-Osagie joined the board of Chocolate City Group as its chairman.