(Courtesy of TheNETng's Interview)
The Okoye brothers rose rapidly, from squatting withHowie T, a music
promoter, in his Ilupeju family home, to living in a modest bungalow also
in Ilupeju, before joining the big league and the millionaires club.
When we met on Thursday, it was in a Lekki court, where Peter and Paul,
now married with children, live in separate buildings with their families.
Peter tells me they’re moving any time from now, possibly to Parkview
estate, in Ikoyi where, as it’s already public knowledge, they’ve been
building their most exorbitant houses yet.
From the days of getting rejected by record labels, to having Howie T set
up Timbuktu records because no one would sign them; to the days of Get
Squared andBusy Body and Do Me, Psquare has demonstrated how it’s
possible to come from nothing to something. Leaving Jos as Michael
Jackson wannabe dancers, to Lagos where they found favour on a Benson
& Hedgescompetition, life has been very good to them. And, 15 years
after, it doesn’t appear their light is about to dim. Fans are still in love
with the music; corporate Nigeria still wants the brand.
But something is wrong.
Peter and Paul, who live just a building apart, rarely set eyes on one
another. They’re no longer the inseparable duo, the showbiz twins
everyone loves to love. They have not performed together since December
28, 2015. They have only seen a couple of times since then, in rather
hostile circumstances, as Peter tells Nigerian Entertainment Today. After
years of managing family issues and working to solve differences, they’re
now dishing out dirty details on social media, using their very own hands
to drag a brand they had built for nearly two decades in the mire.
This is not the first time bands will disintegrate. There’s been Sir Shina
Adewale. There’s been, in recent times, The Remedies, Plantashun Boiz,
STYL Plus, and, if one is to consider them a band, Mo’Hits. The world
remains in shock, about what has become of the union of D’Banjand Don
Jazzy, the Mo’Hits leaders who, before our very eyes, tore down
everything that held them together.
If D’banj and Don Jazzy’s break up is understandable, seeing they were
merely close friends and business partners, the fall of Psquare, following
the apparently irreconcilable spat between Peter on the one had, and Jude
plus Paul, on the other, would appear to be fiction, but it’s real.
Fighting back tears, Peter, who’s the first to go public with what had been a private issue for years, tells us Psquare fans must understand that this is the end of the band, as they know it.
‘The truth is’, he says, as his daughter Aliona comes in, seeking help to fix
her toy, ‘the fans should be happy that we were able to drop the ‘Double
Trouble’ album in 2014. What’s happening now should have happened then.
‘The issue was the fact that I was in Psquare and it felt like I was in fear.
If I don’t do this, Psquare will break-up, if I don’t do that, Psquare will
scatter.’
Peter and Jude Okoye at their site at Park View Estate, Ikoyi
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’.
Aliona is back again with her toy. Peter checks and sees it’s in need of a
battery, so he sends her to a domestic staff. He’s careful to not lose his
train of thought. He’s struggling to fight back tears.
‘I and Paul stay together in this estate and the last time I saw him was
about a week ago.’
But you live in the same premises. Why is this so?
‘Truth is, I’ve not been in talking terms with Paul since December 2015 and
that was why I travelled in January because I had a lot on my mind.
Something happened at Mavin Studios last year that broke my heart.
Now listen to this, Psquare featured on songs with J-Martins, Bracket,
LKT, 9ice and these 4 songs were done by Paul alone, but guess what, did
I appear in the videos, YES’.
‘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.’
Those close to the Okoyes say their elder brother Jude is central to the
band’s problems. Howie T, their first manager admitted as much in an
exclusive interview with THENETNG’s Dayo Showemimo early this week. But
industry watchers insist Jude was the reason the group became profitable
and premium in the first place. Psquare are known to bill more than
anyone else. When other A-listers were comfortable with N3-5M, they
moved up to N6.5m. When artistes were happy to go overseas for peanuts
and the promise of promo, they insisted on up to $120K. They turned
down major shows if the price was wrong. It soon became an industry
standard – if you wanted Psquare, you had to put big bucks on the table.
When Globacom, a Nigerian telecommunication company, signed an
endorsement deal with them six years ago, the total fees went up to
N240m. No Nigerian artiste has in recent times, matched Psquare in
billing. Very few can hold a candle to them when the subject is live
performance.
Psquare were the only brand ambassadors presented with brand new Range
Rover and a Mercedes Benz G-Wagon courtesy of GLO
But Peter says in spite of all these, Psquare had zero structure.
‘When it comes to decision-making, it has always been a Triangle
formation, and the highest vote wins. I never used to complain because we
were all okay, but what has changed now is the fact that we’ve grown.
You can make a certain decision based on how we used to do it and it
may affect everyone as an individual, but it gets to a point when the
decisions taken never gs to be my own and I began to wonder if anything
is wrong’.
‘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?
Psquare at President Buhari’s inauguration ceremony in Abuja.
‘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.’
You’ve said a lot about Jude being the problem, and how you’re the
minority. But, really, as Peter, what do you bring to the table?
‘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’.
Peter Okoye with his new manager, Olatunde Micheals.
‘So I had to send Diouf, the footballer to help get the documents and
convince my brothers before we could pull through with the deal. And
after some months, we started making money. Meanwhile, while filling the
forms, Jude filled everything as Psquare. So the first money came, we
shared it. The second money was bigger, it came and we shared it too.
That was when Paul said we had to re-fill the form and give proper credit
to the songwriter (Himself) and if the form is not brought back, he’s going
to expose me and tell the world that he writes all the songs’.
‘And the next day he went online to post those lyrics. So my question is,
when he was doing that what did Jude do about it? Absolutely nothing!’
PAUL IS WEAK
‘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’.
WHY I CALLED OUT JUDE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
‘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 friendSamuel 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’.
IF OUR MUM WAS STILL ALIVE
‘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’.
SIGNING SOLO DEALS
‘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’.
IT’S NOT A PUBLICITY STUNT
‘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’.
THE NEXT LEVEL
‘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’.
Jude, who dissociated himself from Psquare in a social media post on
Thursday, hours after our interview with Peter, declined commenting for
this story. He told our correspondent ‘I’m sorry I can’t talk about it’
MY WIFE AND MY MUM
Peter Okoye and his wife, Lola Omotayo
‘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’.
WHY CYNTHIA MORGAN WON’T GET A PSQUARE COLLABO
‘When I set up P-Classic records because people were saying Psquare
haven’t helped anyone, I saw the success of Tiwa Savage and I was close
to signingCynthia Morgan and Simi. Ask them they’ll tell you’.
‘I remember Paul came to the studio and said he heard I’m signing Simi
and Cynthia, I said ‘Yes’, and he was like ‘What will people see Jude as’,
and I gave him example of Drake and Young Money, Cash money’.
‘Oscar (Producer of ‘Collabo’ ft. Don Jazzy) called to tell me that they
can’t sign the deal, because he heard it’s causing problem in Psquare.
Meanwhile Cynthia and Simi were both going through the contracts I gave
them only for them to return it two days later that they can’t do it’.
‘Two weeks after, I was shocked to hear that Jude had signed Cynthia
Morgan, and she knows deep down that she’s never going to get a Psquare
collabo’.
CONCLUSION
‘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’.
