Mo’Hits, Plantashun Boiz, The Remedies… 8 musical groups that went ‘the PSquare way’

PSquare, Nigerian musical duo, seems to have joined the list of defunct musical groups, validating the adage that ’20 children cannot play for 20 years’.

No matter how desperately you long to see PSquare stay together, you have to admit that after lasting 19 years, theirs is surely one of the longest partnerships in the musical world.

Here are eight groups who broke up like the Okoye brothers – all in a shorter time frame, and many of them in far more acrimonious circumstances.

PLANTASHUN BOIZ

This R&B group was a hit in the late 90s and early 2000s. It consisted of Innocent Idibia (Tuface), Chibuzor Oji (Faze) and Ahmedu Augustine Obiano (Blackface). The group released three albums together and are remembered for songs like Say You Believe Me, You and I and Plantashun Boiz.

The group eventually broke up because theirs was a situation of “three captains in one ship” as Tuface later admitted.

KC PRESH

The members of the group gained popularity after they won Star Quest TV show, and they coined their name from their first names: Kingsley and Precious.

Presh would later say he walked away from the group because he did not get to do his style of music. They had two albums together and will be remembered for a couple of hit songs, the hottest of which is Shokori Bobo.

THE REMEDIES

Founded in 1997, the group consisted of Tony Tetuila, Eedris Abdulkareem and Eddie Remedy and was a hit in the 90s. The trio split in the early 2000s with the members pursuing individual musical careers.

They released only one album together, but their Shakomo and Sade are still a club hit till date.

While Tetuila became popular for tracks such as Omode Meta, Morning Time, Hit my Car and My Heart Go Jigijigi, Eedris Abdulkareem remained in the limelight for songs like Oko Omoge, Mr Lecturer and Jaga Jaga.

Eddy Remedy, the unluckiest member of the group quickly fizzled out of limelight, but not before dropping Arrival and A Chorongi.

MAINTAIN

Olu Maintain you already know, but Tolu Maintain (pictured) partnered with him – with Big Bamo pulling the strings mostly from the background – to form the group that was known as ‘Maintain’.

They had a couple of hit songs from the late 90s till 2005 when they split. They are remembered for songs like I Catch Cold, Nibo La Wa Ngbe Lo.

While Tolu concentrated on his banking job after the breakup, Olu Maintain continued doing music, releasing hit tracks like Yahoozee and Nawti.

ZULE ZOO

They became popular after the success of their Kerewa, which was banned for obscene content. Mike and Ibrahim Alhassan, members of the group, tried to go solo but they didn’t have any hit songs.

INFINITY

They were a gospel group that became popular after the release of their hit songs Olori Oko, Aye Ole and Only Praise in 2007.

They had only one album together and crisis began after the exit of Kehinde Akinbode, now known as K’ore, who would later admit privately that members of the gospel group were not practising what they preached.

The now-four-man-group tried to stay together after his exit but it was not quite easy.

KUSH

Their split was as inevitable as it was rancour-free; it is always hard for a group of single females to stay compact after marriage, with the pressure of tending to homes located hundreds of thousand of miles apart.

The group started at the University of Lagos and consisted of four ladies, the main faces being Ty Bello, Emem Emma, and Lara George. Dapo Torimiro was their backbone from the background. They were persuasively named KUSH – Kinetically Ushering Salvation into Homes.

They had barely hit fame with their single Let’s Live Together when they split due to the pressure of their homes and differences in the locations that individual members wanted to settle in.

MO HITS

The group was founded in 2004 and co-owned by Micheal Ajereh Collins (better known as Don Jazzy) and Dapo Oyebanjo (known as D’Banj – or Skibanj ‘like his Jamaican friends called him’!).

It became a label that signed various artistes such as Wande Coal, D’Prince, Dr Sid and K-Switch, but it split in 2012 due to irreconcilable differences between the co-owners.

They have since pursued solo musical careers, and both now own successful record labels.

They will be remembered for so many hit singles, a few of which are Tongolo, Mo Bo Lowo Won, Socor, Why Me, Rundown, Pere, Booty Call, Fall In Love, Gbona Felifeli, Igwe, Kimon, Taboo.