Here are the genesis to revelation of the saga threatening the foundation of the P'Square family:
Peter Okoye, like never before, explained how the P-Square fight all
started and how Jude helped in breaking up the group. He had a very open
talk with The Net at his home in Lekki...
Four years ago, I told Jude that he needs to step down as our manager,
because I didn’t want to disrespect him as a brother, but this is
business, we have to structure it. And Jude said to me that there’s a
way I’ll talk to him, and he’ll slap me. So I kept quiet’.
‘So, a few hours after, Paul came to me and said if I want Jude to step
down it’s not a problem, but it’ll mean that he (Paul) will go solo.
'The the first time word got out about Psquare breaking up, a lot of
people called us, senators, governors, and people like that. In fact
three of us were once in a private jet to go and see someone who wanted
to resolve our issues and we didn’t speak to each other all through the
flight. At the end of the day, I swallowed my pride for peace to reign
and allowed Jude to remain as our manager’.
‘I and Paul stay together in this estate and the last time I saw him was about a week ago.’
‘Now hear this, we have other collabos with Kaha, Darey, Ruggedman. I
did these songs alone. How come they don’t have videos? Paul refused to
appear in the videos’.
‘So I told Paul that when next he does collabo alone, he should be in
the video alone, because it got a point where artistes began to feel if
they do a collabo with Paul it gets a video but if it’s me it doesn’t
get a video.
The last collabo we did was with Flavour and I refused to do another
one. Even Flavour had to speak all the Igbo he knows to convince me
before I agreed to do it. Only for my
brother to come and tell me that ‘shey I thought you said you won’t
appear in any video that I did the collabo alone? Why did you appear on
this one?’. I was sad but I knew another one will come’.
‘So Tiwa Savage called me, apparently Paul had gone to do a song with
her, not the campaign song they are promoting now, another Psquare
collabo entirely. So she called me that she’s been trying to reach Paul
to get the CD of the song from him that he’s already done his part, so I
went to Paul’s house to help ask for it and tell him that I want to go
to their studio to do my verse and he said he doesn’t know where the CD
is’.
‘I went to the Mavin studio to meet Tiwa, when I got there, she asked
for the CD and I told her Paul didn’t give me any CD, so I called him
again and gave the phone to Tiwa and told her on phone that the CD is at
Omole, so I got into the studio recorded my verse and when I finished,
everybody was clapping. I was surprised only to realize that Paul had
gone to tell them that I don’t sing or write songs’.
‘I felt really bad and betrayed, but I covered up for him. I jokingly
asked Teebillz if they gave him Red Label and he said yes, so I was like
you guys caused it, and we laughed over it. So when my assistant went
to pick up the CD, Paul and Jude started shouting at him to tell Peter
that what is he doing at the Mavin studio? He knows how we work. The
next day, I went to Paul and told him how I felt when I heard what he
said. Only for Jude to say that he made Paul the lead singer of Psquare 8
years ago! A leader leads, he doesn’t destroy.’
‘I always get Ideas, most of Psquare ideas come from me, and when I say
Idea, I mean materials we need to put out for people to see, video,
stage performances and all. But when I come up with them, nobody wants
to accept it. I didn’t complain because people still love what we do,
but then again, there wasn’t much competition in the industry back
then’.
‘As time goes, we should get better, it
shouldn’t be same triangle deciding, because if we continue that same
way, we’ll lose it. All I want is a proper structure in the sense that,
we need to have proper management, business managers and all’.
‘As I speak to you right now, we don’t have any office, no structure.
When this issue started about five years ago, our lawyer told us the way
we run our business is wrong without a structure’.
‘I’ll give you an instance’.
‘We had to go perform somewhere once, and because I had a slight
argument with Paul, he said he’s not going. The show was the wedding of
the President’s daughter, because some times when we perform for some
certain people, they always talk to me, they don’t call Jude’.
‘I didn’t even know until we got to the airport and at the end of the
day we missed the reception, but we finally performed at the gala night,
because when I got to the airport my brother wasn’t there, and I became
confused on how I was going to explain to the President that we can’t
perform?
‘So I made up my mind to go with the band, perform like that and lie
that my brother was sick. So we left for Abuja and when we got to the
hotel dressing up my assistant manager called that he was on the way to
the airport with Paul, so we had to wait for them to land in Abuja and
that was why we couldn’t make it on time to the reception’.
‘The president was mad. In fact Mama Peace (Patience Jonathan) was
really mad. But we eventually made up for it with a performance at the
Gala night.
Only for Jude to say Paul said he wasn’t going for a show and I still went on it with’.
‘Imagine if Jude had a proper structure and we had contracts? That
wouldn’t happen. And it was more because the show came through me. If
the show came through Jude it wouldn’t have happened. I don’t have a
problem with doing things as a family, but then the structure and proper
organization is important too. The name Psquare is very big outside but
inside we have no structure, I see people like Audu of Chocolate City,
Mavin Records, even Ubi Franklin and I wanted us to have a structure
like that. Psquare is just up there because of the grace of God.’
‘It’s really sad that people have labeled me ‘Dancer’, and people don’t
really know what I do for Psquare. Kudos to Paul, I’m not a good
songwriter, in-fact I’ll rate myself 30%, so when it comes to song
writing, I give it to Paul 100%.
‘However, not writing songs does not disqualify you from being a
musician. I can tell you for free that a Nigerian wrote two of the songs
on Rihanna’s new album. I’ve travelled a lot and most times people ask,
‘which one are you, the singer or the dancer’? And it’s really sad’.
‘In Psquare, I am the creative person, I can sit-down and tell you what
people want to hear, what they want to see and what they want to learn
from Psquare. But it’s not something to brag about’.
‘Jude directs all our videos’.
‘This whole thing began when Paul went online and started post lyrics of
most of our songs on Instagram that he wrote them all, just because
Peter brought in something to the table’.
‘I’ve been trying to bring more business for Psquare I didn’t know it
was going to cause problems. I sent my manager to a meeting in Senegal
to meet with Universal music about getting us deals, and when he came
back, the way they responded to him wasn’t encouraging’.
‘I remember I once told Paul something, when Jude was using the term
‘Our Money’ when he just became our manager, that was when we made our
first 1 million. I called Paul and told him that our former manager used
to make about 15%, now that Jude is our manager, let’s think of a
percentage that we’ll be giving him and put it on paper’.
‘Paul was like, it’s not necessary. Probably, he went to tell Jude about it.
I’m sorry to say this, but I think Paul is weak’.
‘You know they say change is constant, you can’t stay at one spot, as
the industry moves, you move. So I won’t say the problem we have is
money. I think everybody is just dragging power unnecessarily. Imagine
Jude telling me that he’s in charge of Psquare and there’s nothing Peter
and Paul can do about it, and I look at Paul he’s quiet about it’.
‘I’ve never seen where a manager talks to his artistes anyhow. If
there’s any issue you should call us aside quietly to talk about it’.
‘First of all, if I as an artiste tells you to step down, and you say
Paul and I cannot do anything, then there’s no other way I can take you
out than going public’.
‘On December 14, 2015 we sat down to have a meeting hoping to be able to
set a proper structure in place, but Paul noticed that it wasn’t
working the way he wanted, so he said he wants to tell us that he’s
starting a new group.
I thought he meant he wanted to start a record label, and he was like
no, he’s starting a new group that he belongs to. And Jude simply said,
‘anybody stop you’? He picked up his phones and walked out of the
meeting. I felt it had already been discussed behind me’.
‘I later found out that Paul is already recruiting the group and Jude is
their manager. At the moment I heard they are called ‘The MVPs’ I don’t
know what it means yet’.
‘So how do you expect me to be managed by the same person we’ve been
having issues with, who is now the manager of the other group. There’ll
surely be conflict of interest’.
‘And it actually happened two weeks ago’.
‘Jude called me, after I had said he’s fired. He called me on a Thursday
to say ‘Hope you know we are going to the embassy tomorrow for that
show in Holland’. I know about the show, it was already booked before
the issues started, so I told him, ‘Bro you are not my manager, talk to
my manager’. He said, ‘Noted’. And the next day, they went to the
embassy with the new group members, which means they had already set up
their interview at the embassy because it’s not possible to get an
appointment in less than 24 hours’.
‘So I traced the organisers, and told them that Jude does not represent
us, he represents only Paul. I told them this is what it takes to get
Peter and Paul, Peter alone or Paul alone’.
‘So I went on social media to protect our careers, because if I didn’t
do it, Psquare will not release any materials anytime soon, they’ll be
busy promoting their artistes’.
‘And I remember going to talk to Paul about it before I went on social
media, I went to his house he was in his room with his friend, and I was
like can he excuse us, I want to talk to you and Paul said, no, his
friend should stay, anything I want to say should be said in front of
him. So I said, no, you know we are brothers and he was like, ‘oh, na
now you know say we be brothers’.
So I said, I came to talk to him about what’s been happening, but it was
turning into an argument so I left and I travelled out. I was away for
over a month, knowing that we didn’t have any show at that time. I went
to Turkey, London to rest my mind, my friend Samuel Eto’o invited me to
come’.
HOW I FIRED JUDE
‘The day I fired Jude was at a concert. It was the day I came back, we
had a show, so I went straight to the venue in Lagos and told Jude I
want to talk to him, and he said I should say anything I want to say in
front of everyone. I was like that was the same attitude Paul gave me
before I travelled’.
‘So Jude was like if I like I should get out, and I was like guy don’t
embarrass me. He said who are you, because you think you are Psquare? So
I told him openly that if he cannot resolve me and Paul’s issue, he
doesn’t deserve to be our manager, and he said I should get out. There
and then I told him ‘You are fired’! He looked at me and said, ‘You fit
fire me’?’.
‘That was when I entered my car and started Tweeting. How else can you take him out?’
‘Long before I made up my mind, Paul already said there’s no more Psquare, If Jude leaves he goes with him’.
‘And before I announced my management, I wanted my mind to be clear, so I
went back to Paul, this time we were alone and we spoke a lot, I told
him I had no issues with him, but he needs to stop letting Jude use him
as a shield. Both of us started shedding tears, and when we finished he
still said he hopes I’m not here to tell him that I still want Psquare
and I told him I want to move on, because he already has a manager
(Jude) and I don’t, so I had to structure myself too’.
‘And I didn’t want to allow the Psquare name to fade before moving on.
Look at Don Jazzy and Dbanj, when they broke up, they waited for like 6
months and had to start again. Now, that Psquare just broke up, let me
use the name to move on quickly, because there’s no time’.
‘To be honest with you, I feel if our mum
was still alive, we would have pushed her to her grave with this whole
thing. It’s really sad that even with everything going on, I still stand with Paul’.
‘It still boils down to the fact that Psquare was not structured. Music
is like football, Messi has his manager, Neymar has his manager, Suarez
has his manager, but when they get to the pitch, they play as a team’.
‘Before I did the Olympic deal, I’ve brought some deals for Psquare but
the people endorsing Psquare only see Peter and Paul, but behind it’s
Peter, Paul and Jude so the price goes so high that it never works’.
‘But when a deal comes to my table, it’s not like they called Jude and I
went behind to talk to them, the deal came directly to me from Jude’s
friend. He called me and told me about it, and before then I had already
established my own beverage factory and the deal coming was from PZ,
which means I could do more business with them, so should I lose that
deal because they didn’t call Jude?’
‘And I asked them that why me and not Psquare, they said they couldn’t
afford Psquare and more so the brand was tailored to fit one person. So I
went back to tell Paul and Jude and they didn’t say anything, they
didn’t ask me not to do it.
Don’t get it wrong, we’ve been doing different private businesses, the
only difference was that the Olympic deal had to come out public. I’ve
been doing mass housing projects on my own, Paul has been doing real
estate, Jude has been doing his own thing, he even went to do Northside
record label, so it’s not like it’s the first thing I’m doing alone.
It’s just the first one that went public’.
‘So even when I decide to open my beverage factory, people will still say why am I doing it alone without my brother’.
‘I hear lot of people think it’s all a stunt, and that’s what I really
want to put an end to. It’s not a stunt at all. It has been going on for
a while’.
‘When Jude didn’t come to my wedding, people started saying we broke up
and then others said it’s a stunt, then when Paul posted those lyrics
stuff on Instagram people thought it was a stunt too, but the truth is
that, this is not and has never been a publicity stunt’.
‘I am telling you the truth, I am moving on because people are already
getting tired of this Psquare brouhaha, now I have my manager Olatunde
Michaels and I expect everybody to respect that. I am a family man, a
musician, singer and dancer, if I don’t move on, Psquare will collapse
and there’ll be nothing left’.
‘Already Paul has done two songs without me but no one is saying
anything, he did a song with his artiste ‘Muno’ with his name as Rudeboy
did they feature me? He did a song with Tiwa Savage, did they feature
me?’
‘Last week Yemi Alade sent me her album track list to help her share on
Instagram, guess what I saw, she had a song with Psquare that I didn’t
even know about. Only Paul did it’.
‘Because I announced a new management,
people feel am the one going solo, but Paul has already gone solo, he’s
moved on and didn’t need to announce any new management because he still
works with Jude, so I had to announce mine and believe it or not, people are booking me for gigs already’.
‘And guess what, I’ll still perform Psquare songs, nobody can stop me,
nobody can stop Paul too, we didn’t have a contract with Jude, so I have
the right to perform Psquare songs especially the ones I took part in’.
‘I’ll also consider releasing solo songs and even albums. Truth is – in
the last album Paul did some songs alone, I did some songs alone. ‘Bring
It On’ was Paul alone, ‘Eje Ajo’, ‘Shekini’ was done by me alone’.
‘Remember the 4 songs ‘Free For Fans’ that we released, those songs were removed from the last album and I leaked them’.
‘I have some songwriters already, V-Tek writes for me, and I’m still bringing up more’.
Social media posts, today, by Peter and Paul, might suggest they’re
trying to resolve their issues, with the possibility of putting the
fracas behind. In fact Psquare is being advertised for an upcoming
performance. But, as Peter told NET on Thursday, it’s now beyond music
and management. They’re not likely to live together in the Parkview
property, which is nearing completion; and they’ve since shared their
other properties (We sighted a copy of the contract, showing Festus
Keyamo as their lawyer).
Peter Explains.
‘Because of what was happening, it was like two against one, so I said
let’s share our properties. When I said that, Paul said if we want to
share our properties, Jude must get the same share with us otherwise
Psquare will split and I was like ‘SPLIT-AGAIN?’
‘Our lawyer came and told Paul that it’s wrong to share it equally with
Jude, but he insisted, so we divided every property we owned in Lagos,
Jos, America, Abuja. In-fact the right and left wing of the Square Ville
mansion belongs to Paul and Jude now.
So that was how we shared all our properties equally among the three of us about two or three years ago’.
‘After sharing everything, I called Paul again and spoke to him about a
proper structure. We’ve been with people like Akon and co and we see how
it’s done. Right now, Psquare has millions of dollars in royalties
hanging in the air’.
‘All our endorsement and shows are shared equally between the three of us as well’.
‘After what it took to share our properties, I was embarking on a
project, so I needed more money and I wanted to sell my house in America
and buy something smaller, because I spend close to $30,000 to maintain
that condo every year’.
‘So I called my caretaker to begin the process and she told Jude and
Paul to send their data page and passport photographs, but they refused
because they know I wanted to the sell the house. And see the value of
dollars now. The house was valued at 100M then, but if I sell it now, I
could make extra 250M’.
‘And we already signed paper works and document of the house that it
belongs to me but Jude ignored it, so I called our lawyer, Festus Keyamo
to inform him about the development. He called them and they both
refused to pick his call, so he sent them a text and requested that we
should have a meeting, but Jude replied him and said no need for a
meeting that the America house will be sold’.
‘Paul said we agreed and signed on how to share but we haven’t really
shared it yet, after all Jude is still holding on to the documents’.
‘Three of us have properties close to each other in Parkview and that’s why I want to sell my own and move to Banana Island’.
‘I can’t really understand why they don’t want a structure, to me I
think it’s ignorance, and if I decide to do it, it’ll seem like I’m
looking for trouble’.
‘People think we changed when we started having wives. Before my mum
died, she was at St Nicholas hospital on the island, and my sisters were
living in this house (in Lekki), and every morning before my wife goes
to work, she’ll leave home at 5am in the morning to go and stay with my
mum even before we get there ourselves. And when she closes from work,
she’s back with her again’.
‘So I just laugh when I hear people say my mum didn’t like my wife. It’s
my wife and sister that prepare my mum’s meals in the kitchen’.
‘Now let me shock you: our wives, the three of them are the closest set
of people you can imagine. Even with all that’s going on. It’s really
surprising. Somehow, they respect themselves and stayed out of the whole
drama and I respect them a lot. And that’s somehow what has kept us
together for this long, otherwise Psquare would have ended like two or
three years back’.
‘The truth is I feel happy it has come, because I’ve been staying in
Psquare in fear for the last four years. The situation now is, if you
want Psquare to perform, you’ll have to get in touch with two
management, I don’t care if you pay Paul’s management more than they pay
me, once we are able to agree Psquare is still there’.
‘I just don’t want to have a management that feels he’s in control because he’s my elder brother’.
‘And because of the legacy that I want Psquare to be remembered for,
that was why I went to talk to Paul the last time. I don’t want us to
start doing beef songs, or we see at the clubs and we don’t greet each
other, or ignore our kids and stuff like that. And even if Psquare
breaks up, I still want us to have our relationship as brothers. If I’ve
regretted anything in my life so far, I swear to God this is not one of
them, I’m happy because I’ve been in pain for a long time’.
‘It’s good if we go and do stuff separately so that even IF we come back
we’ll have respect for each other. I wish Paul the best and I wish Jude
the best as well’.
- These are strong issues but as men, brothers, there are not beyond redemption. Sincerity is the way out!
