By Ngozi Egenuka
The trial of the former Manager of P-Square group, Jude Okoye, on the alleged money laundering to the tune of N1.38 billion, $1 million, and £34,537.59, yesterday, witnessed the testimony of his younger brother, Peter Okoye, before a Federal High Court in Lagos. He is standing trial alongside his company, Northside Music Limited, on a seven-count charge.
Jude is being tried before the court presided by Justice Alexander Owoeye’s Court, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He is being tried on the petition written to the commission by his brother, Peter.
Led in evidence by Aso Larry, the prosecutor, Peter told the court how his brother, Jude, incorporated another company to collect their royalties.
He said: “Sometimes in 2017, the group, P-square, disbanded. We were apart for nearly five years. In November 2021, the group came back.
“P-Square started in 1997-98. Before Jude became our manager, we had several managers, including Chioma Ugochi. She managed us when we were in secondary school and at university. We also had the late Bayo Odusami, who managed us for five years. After that, my twin brother and I managed ourselves for a couple of months before we decided that Jude should manage us and Northside Entertainment Ltd.
“So, we continued running our business, and sometimes we started having issues with how he ran the business. The issues were mainly on how he was the sole signatory to all our bank accounts in Ecobank, Zenith and FCMB.”
According to him, that continued until Mr. Festus Keyamo, now the Minister of Aviation, who was their lawyer, came up with a sharing formula. He pointed out a scenario when we were building our houses in Ikoyi, it was only the defendant that could sign out money. E noted that the financing of the house project was by Northwest Entertainment Ltd, which stopped financing the project for six months.
“When we came back, after six months, I approached the defendant and my twin brother, Paul, and asked why they stopped financing my project. They said, ‘As you leave P-square, you leave the money’. With that comment, I approached our lawyer, Keyamo.
According to him, after the group reunited and Jude was no longer the manager, he discovered a similar company, Northside Music Limited, and in 2022, he asked for access to the backend after people reached out to inquire about their statement of account to know how much the album generated, but was denied access by the defendant.
Peter further told the court that, based on the defendant’s response, he knew that something was going on. According to him, he then asked the accounts officers in both Eco Bank and Zenith Bank, who did not give satisfactory answers and was later told by the Zenith account officer that Jude asked not to give it to Peter.
Peter, in his evidence, further told the court that Jude and his twin brother, Paul, later gave the catalogue to Mad Solution, who paid over $22,000 to him after three months of signing.
He also told the court how he went to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) site, where he discovered that the Director of Northside Music was Jude Okoye and his wife, adding that he also discovered that Jude’s wife owns 80 per cent while Jude owned 20 per cent.
