The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Friday, May 16, 2025,
presented its first prosecution witness, PW1, Peter Obumuneme Okoye,( a.k.a Mr
P) against Jude Chigozie Okoye, elder brother and former Manager of Paul and
Peter Okoye, before Justice Rahman Oshodi of the State High Court sitting in
Ikeja, Lagos.
Okoye is standing trial alongside his
company, Northside Music Ltd., on a four-count charge bordering on alleged
stealing to the tune of $1m and £34,537 .
Led in evidence by the prosecution
counsel, Mohammed Bashir, the PW1 told the court that his brother’s wife,
Ifeoma, owned 80 per cent of Northside Music Ltd, while Jude retained the
remaining 20 percent shares.
He said: “ I went to the EFCC with my
lawyer to submit the petition on January 22, 2024. I initially wrote
Northside Music as the respondent. But upon various investigations carried out
by the Commission, it was discovered that Jude's wife, Ifeoma, is the owner of
the company because she owes 80 per cent shares, while Jude retains the
remaining 20 per cent.
"I submitted the petition and I
never spoke to either Paul or Jude until early April in 2024 when the EFCC
asked if my twin brother was involved and I said I did not know.
"The Commission discovered there
were over 47 bank accounts used by Jude to receive royalties.”
He also told the court that though
both Paul and Jude were later invited by the Commission, the latter was
detained.
In his further evidence, he said:
"Jude never denied that he committed the crime. However, my twin
brother told me during a meeting at the EFCC office that our elder brother owns
P-Square.
"Paul told me Jude owns 40 per
cent, while the two of us owe 30 per cent each.
"Ifeoma was never part of our
engagement and I was not aware when Northside Music was registered.
"Northside Music, according to
my findings, was registered in 2015 and had been operating illegally two years
prior to our break-up."
The prosecution, thereafter,
sought to tender the petition dated January 22, 2024.
There was no objection to its
admissibility by the lead counsel to the defendants, Clement Onwuenwunor, SAN.
Earlier in the proceedings, the
witness had told the court that he and his twin brother, Paul, started their
music career in 1999.
He had also told the court that
between 2005 and 2006, they floated a company, Northside Entertainment Ltd,
where they were directors and shareholders.
He, however, said Jude was the sole
signatory to the company’s three accounts domiciled in Eco Bank, First City
Monument Bank (FCMB) and Zenith Bank.
“They were both Naira and Dollar
accounts and Jude was the sole manager of all the accounts.
“In September 2017, P-Square
broke up and we came back together in November 2021.
"Within the period, I never
received any royalty paid into our company.
"Before we broke up in
2017, every royalty was being paid into Northside Entertainment Ltd., where the
three of us were shareholders.
"We have two aggregators
(streaming platforms that generate income): I-rocking.com and Free me digital,
which I was aware of.
"When people play our songs on
their mobile phones, it generates income: and so, we receive funds from these
two aggregators prior to our split."
The PW1, who said he went solo as Mr P
after the group broke up and got a different manager, further told court that “
When we got back without him being our manager, I discovered a similar
company was run by our brother known as Northside Music.
"I started seeing some
discrepancies in the way royalties were sent to me and my twin brother . When I
went for a tour in London, some individual approached us if we would like to
sell our catalogs, but they needed to see the back-end.
"After so much attempt to get
the back-end from Jude, I discovered that he had tampered with the original
one, which made over seven companies to have a rethink of purchasing the
catalogs.”
The case was adjourned till May 23 for continuation of trial.
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