‘Why P-Square Was Disbanded’

P-Square, made up of identical twin brothers, Peter and Paul Okoye which later became a musical group to be reckoned with not only in Nigeria but internationally  won the Benson & Hedges sponsored Golden Tunes Music Championship in 2001 which was subsequently followed by their debut album titled ‘senorifa’ in 2003 has been disbanded.
Their first major hit album ‘Get Squared’ was released in 2005 and the rest became history as P-square became a big brand in the continent. This was followed by other successful albums like Game Over, Danger Evation and Double Trouble.
Since Paul began to sing, the rivalry between him and his twin brother, Peter started, thereby raising a guestion as, who is more relevant? The battle for supremacy started heating up on many occasions. It was their late mother, Mrs Josephine Okoye who had been using her influence to ensure that there is always peace. Her death was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, as she was the only one the boys could listen to, not even their father who was not close to them until a few months to his death.
Little wonder many influential Nigerians including the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote tried to settle their current rift but all to no avail.
Meanwhile, Peter and Jude had always not been close because the later will always support Paul against his twin brother whenever any problem  regarding their career and project was on the table.  This has over the years made Peter’s opinion irrelevant and he had been nursing  grudges over the years. By extension Lola is not also on Jude’s good record, but this has nothing to do with the P-Square rift.
“This is how the whole problem started,” our source said. “Peter through the assistance of El haji Diouf (former Senegal and Liverpool attacker) secured a royalty deal with a company in France. When he was processing it, Jude and Paul never believed in it, but within a few weeks, three of them received the royalty payment in their different bank accounts, it was paid in dollars”.
“The terms of the royalty states that they would be getting the payment every quarter. That was the beginning of the face off,” the source revealed. It was however gathered that when Paul realised how lucrative the royalty was, he suggested that being the writer and singer of all P-Square’s songs, he deserves to be getting the lion share of the largesse.
But Peter disagreed, insisting that Jude’s share should rather be slashed. Jude said over his dead body. That was how the first fight broke out three years ago.
However, there were many efforts to reconcile them, but Peter who started the outburst in the social media insisted that the only condition for peace is that henceforth, every P-Square song and album will be recorded by him and Paul on 50-50 basis. Paul and Jude reluctantly agreed after much persuasion “That was why they both have equal songs on the ‘Double Trouble’ album unlike before when it was only Paul that records all their songs,” our source said.
Paul and Jude attributed the little success recorded by the Double Trouble album to the wack songs done by Peter. They therefore reiterated that henceforth, the status quo should remain. Paul is expected to continue writing and singing all the songs, while Peter leads the choreography. That was the beginning of a fresh trouble.
There are also reports that Peter Okoye’s wife, Lola contributed to the breakup of P-Square. According to an inside source, Lola Okoye wanted P-Square to be more business oriented. She has been in the eye of the storm ever since the P-Square drama started in 2014. There had been a lot of rumours about her role in the three year drama that took down P-Square.
A source close to P-Square who disclosed this recently revealed the role Lola played in the whole drama. Lola has always wanted to push the P-Square brand forward to make it even bigger with her experience in corporate Nigeria. She wanted to bring a more professional way of doing business to the group.
Peter Okoye was keen on moving P-Square forward and took his wife’s ideas. Peter felt that Jude Okoye’s managerial style was not professional enough and the business lacked structure. P-Square which happens to be one of the biggest groups in Africa never had a business office in all its years of doing business.
“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,” Peter Okoye told NET in an exclusive interview in 2016. “The name P-Square is very big outside but inside we have no structure”, he further said.
He said he brought his ideas to Paul and Jude, but they shut it down. Paul and Jude Okoye preferred the old style of handling things. It has always worked for them and they were not ready to change the formular. This led to a tussle between both camps (Peter/Lola on one side and Paul and Jude on the other).
Another insider close to the brothers revealed that Lola Okoye helped Peter Okoye snag several endorsement ideas. This is what she wanted to bring to the group a more celeb-focused way of doing business but Paul and Jude said no.
The fiction led to the eventual split of P-square, Peter Okoye wanted to progress, but Paul and Jude decided to keep on using the old formular. Throughout the whole drama, Lola Okoye has never reacted publicly or responded and she has not said anything about the rumours either.
According to our source, Paul and Jude Okoye has sworn to never go back to Peter Okoye to settle as a group.