Psquare's Feud - How The P- Square Drama All Started… Read The Story In Full

In an interview published by Thenetng today,

Peter Okoye explained how the P-Square saga all

started and how Jude helped in breaking up the

group. He affirmed that it’s no publicity stunt

and he has been the one his brothers betrayed.

Thenetng had a sit-down talk with him at his

Lekki home on Thursday, where Peter held

NOTHING BACK. Grab a bucket of popcorn, Sit

down, relax and enjoy…..

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 to 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 with it’.

‘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’.