Music star Peter Okoye has accused his elder brother and former manager, Jude Okoye, of diverting over N1.3 billion in royalties belonging to the now-defunct P-Square group.
Testifying at the Federal High Court in Lagos, Peter, the first prosecution witness in a case brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), claimed Jude secretly collected the group’s digital royalties through a company he created Northside Music Ltd registered under his wife’s name.
Peter said neither he nor his twin brother Paul were aware of this arrangement. He added that Jude and his wife are the sole directors of the company, with her holding an 80% stake.
After the group’s 2017 split and reunion in 2021, Peter said he began noticing financial discrepancies and was consistently excluded from financial decisions during Jude’s management.
“Jude had control of all our bank accounts Zenith, Ecobank, FCMB. I couldn’t even buy a phone without his say,” Peter told the court.
The EFCC is charging Jude and Northside Music Ltd with seven counts of alleged money laundering involving N1.38 billion, $1 million, and £34,537.59.
Peter said suspicions grew when someone tried to license their albums in 2022, and he realized he had no access to the group’s financial reports.
Jude reportedly refused to share the backend data, and Paul said he had no knowledge of the situation. Jude allegedly told Peter that the money was “with people in South Africa.”
“I wasn’t even asking for the money, just the backend reports and account access,” Peter said.
He recounted how Jude became the group’s manager after a series of others, but later cut Peter off financially when he went solo.
A consultation with their former lawyer, Festus Keyamo (now Minister of Aviation), led to the suggestion of a revenue-sharing formula.
Peter also found out that Jude had instructed banks not to disclose any information to him. After switching to a new aggregator, Mad Solutions, Peter finally began receiving payments over $22,000 that he previously hadn’t seen.
A check with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) revealed that Northside Music Ltd was unknown to Peter and entirely controlled by Jude and his wife.
“When we finally got backend data, it had no real financials just numbers. Aggregators told us the data had been tampered with, affecting its value. Where someone once offered $8,000, the value dropped to just $500,” he said.
Peter further testified that their tax handler wrongly claimed the group hadn’t earned since the split, while his bank records showed consistent income. He later contacted his lawyer, who filed a petition with the EFCC.
The trial has been adjourned to June 4 for cross-examination.
