Peter Okoye aka Mr P, one half of the defunct music group P-Square, has opened up on why he reported some members of his family to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a lengthy post via X on Monday, Mr P said he never reported his twin brother, Paul, to the anti-graft agency as he claimed in an interview with City FM, Lagos.
Peter said the petition was written against their elder brother and former manager, Jude Okoye and his wife, Ifeoma, for alleged diversion of assets.
He said his focus was on uncovering the truth behind a secret company, Northside Music, allegedly owned by their brother, Jude and his wife.
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Peter said he would pursue legal action after the EFCC concludes its investigation and would also make public his petition to the commission.
He said: “I want to make it clear that I never reported my twin brother PAUL to the EFCC. I know many of you were disappointed when PAUL accused me of doing so. He mentioned that I wrote a petition against him, which he claimed made the EFCC to ask him to provide a surety. This statement suggested that he was detained, which is not true.
“Peter, Paul and Jude own a management company together called Northside Entertainment, which we use to manage all of P-SQUARE’s affairs. One day, I discovered another company with a similar name, but this one was called Northside Music instead of Northside Entertainment.
“This surprised me, so I decided to investigate further and guess what?To my shock the founders and directors of this secret company were none other than JUDE Okoye and his wife Ifeoma Okoye and the registered address was the family home of JUDE’s wife.
“Still in shock, I knew I had to talk to PAUL about it. I approached him multiple times – at least four different times – asking if he knew anything about this secret company and the whereabouts of some of P-SQUARE’s royalties. Each time I met with him, he denied knowing anything about it.
“I want to set the record straight, I hereby challenge PAUL, or anyone else to show any petition that I, Peter Okoye, ever submitted against my twin brother PAUL or that has PAUL’S name on it.
“I am still writing this with so much shock because I gave clear instructions to my legal team, with a standing order, that under no circumstances should Paul be included in my petition. Their focus was to remain solely on the primary suspects, Jude Okoye and his wife, Ifeoma Okoye – since they were the directors of this secret company – Northside Music.
PAUL’S recent interview about the EFCC incident contains a lot of lies.
“I watched and listened to Paul’s interview, I was totally speechless and I kept asking myself, how does Paul have the audacity to publicly tell lies like this, even with a respected and reputable agency like the EFCC. He claimed I petitioned him, but that’s not something that ever happened to PAUL. The truth is, this was something that actually happened to JUDE.
“The real story goes back to the shocking discovery I made, but what really got me very upset was finding out that for years, millions of dollars and hundreds of millions of Naira were being secretly diverted into this secret company’s account Northside Music from our own company, ‘Northside Entertainment’. This was not just a minor issue – it was a massive betrayal that had been going on for several years.
“I understand that Paul is angry because I took this matter to the EFCC, and I understand why. However, bearing in mind that I have met Paul and Jude separately and tried to discuss this matter and it yielded me with no positive answer, in fact, the last time I approached Paul the conversation got heated up and he said, and I quote, ‘Peter, go and do your worst’. At this stage, I was left with no other choice but to report to the authorities and take legal actions.
“JUDE was then detained after being questioned. He came clean and admitted he had been diverting millions of dollars of our money to this secret company that he and his wife were the director of. All of JUDE’s bank accounts were immediately frozen. He was eventually released on bail after he managed to provide a surety and met the other bail conditions. Meanwhile, further investigations are still going on up until now.
“PAUL’S name was never mentioned in the petition because he was never a director of this secret company, unless there is something he is hiding from all of us. PAUL was only invited for questioning just like Jason Njoku of Iroko TV, Amaju Pinnick, and others who had transactional dealings with Northside Music.
“The EFCC investigation found out that Northside Music had been secretly collecting P-SQUARE’s royalties over the years. These royalty money were sent to a bureau de change, then transferred to JUDE’s personal bank account.
“A closer look at Jude’s account statement revealed that once the money entered his personal account, there were multiple transactions where he was splitting the funds equally with Paul, without Peter. This naturally led to some questions.
“After Jude confessed to diverting the funds, he also told the EFCC that the money he had been sending to Paul for several years, wasn’t about sharing money behind Peter’s back, instead, it was money he owed Paul from the sale of their house in America, which he was gradually paying back the loan. This is the reason why Paul has been telling everyone that the EFCC has cleared him, as if I ever wanted him to get into trouble with the EFCC.”
“I will also release the EFCC final report, receipts, and other documents related to this secret company, including the CAC registration, bank transactions, and bank statements that JUDE set up with his wife, Ifeoma Okoye,” he said.
On why he chose to make the family dispute public, Peter said, “It’s always surprising to me when people say, ‘P-SQUARE is always bringing their family matters into the public eye.’ Let me clarify this. P-SQUARE is not just a family – it’s a public brand, but Peter, Paul, Jude, Anita, Ifeoma, Lola, and the rest of our family members are FAMILY, but P-SQUARE is an entity that belongs to the public as much as it does belong to us.
“Our fans have played a significant role in our success, so they have the right to know what’s happening with their beloved brand P-SQUARE. That’s why it’s understandable when certain aspects of our lives are shared publicly.”
Earlier, Peter had expressed frustration over Paul’s constant discrediting of his efforts in the group.
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