The feud between the former members of the boy group, Plantashun Boiz deepens, as 2face Idibia takes Blackface to court.
In an Instagram post shared by Blackface, he made available a writ of summons instigated by Innocent Idibia, aka, 2face and his manager, Efe Omorogbe, requesting he appears in court.
The former members of the Plantashun Boiz have been at loggerhead following the break-up of the group in 2004, with Blackface claiming he wrote the song, 'African Queen', which was a hit single from 2face Idibia's debut solo album, 'Face2Face'.
This war has waged on for several years with threats of court cases and rumoured settlements.
The enmity however resurfaced in 2014, when another single, Let Somebody Love You from 2face's Ascension album reportedly contained lyrics written by Blackface.
This has led to Blackface raising a storm on various media platforms, claiming his former bandmate stole the song from him and included his manager [Efe Omorogbe] as a co-writer, without any credit given to him.
In 2017, Blackface was a guest on Loosetalk Podcast, where he restated these claims, which led to a response from 2face, who accused him of defaming his character, with Efe Omorogbe threatening to go to court.
Pulse reaches out to both camps
Pulse contacted Blackface for comments on the court summons and he says his lawyers are on the case, ''We are on it, have you guys called them to ask them? I never see where people dey steal person thing dey say, na dem wan carry them go court.
The summons is with my legal team, the legal team are just going to address it and file my defense from them'', he said.
We also reached out to 2face Idibia's manager, Efe Omorogbe, who stated that, ''I don't really want to comment on this, our lawyers are addressing the issue and we really don't want to sensationalise it.
It's a defamation suit, our lawyers have repeatedly told him to stop making insubstantiable claims about people stealing your stuff, he has refused to comply, our lawyers are suing for defamation.''
On the alleged amount of N50M, he says, ''If you defame someone, there is a punitive damage attached to it, you don't spend your energy, pay lawyers to go to court without a payment, it is what it is.
He spent a lot of years peddling what we believe is falsehood and all attempts to get him to stop maligning our characters and defaming us, he didn't listen, so let him prove his allegations in court.
We think his allegations are false and unfair, if he insists they are right and correct, then let him prove them in the court of law.''
Asked if there were attempts to ensure it never got to this point, he says, ''We have dealt with Blackface and his issues for almost a decade, I have in my capacity repeatedly tried to do things with Blackface, and incorporate him into stuffs we are doing, we have reached out to him, time and again, we have tried to broker a reasonably respectable relationship, it has not worked.
Mutual friends, elders have tried and tried, people that he attended school with, they have all tried to get him to stop peddling all these falsehoods, the first approach was not to go to court, it was a cease and desist request, the lawsuit was the last course of action.
I never wanted to join issues with Blackface, I have made my opinions known in the past and I really don't have any extra thing to say, let the courts prove his case.'' he concluded.
This is the reason behind 2face and Blackface's unending war
Back before Plantashun Boiz, Blackface met 2face Idibia in a secondary school in Benue and invested himself in him.
Faze would later join them, but he kept the group together and managed them to stardom. They shared dreams, performed around the country, collected N10,000 for many shows, and bonded like brothers.
Then 2face went solo, got signed with Kennis Music and jumped ship at the point the group were seeking for better deals.
“We already had a plan, but 2face wanted to do something different,” Blackface said on Loose Talk podcast in 2017. “I and Faze were surprised.
This supposed betrayal hurt Blackface and when 2face went ahead to score a global hit record with ‘African Queen’ , a record he wrote, this awakened every pain in his body.
And then in 2015, 2face Idibia returned with a single, ‘Let somebody love you’, which was the lead record off his“Ascension” album. The single which featured Bridget Kelly reopened a new wound because, according to Blackface, he wrote that song.
“Why didn’t they deem it fit to call me?” Blackface asked, his pain visible in the recorded clip. “Is it because he has a lawyer who thinks he is smart and he can get away with anything?”.
These two major incidents have led to an open war that has gone on for years and with this court summon, chances are it will not be ending anytime soon.