A first prosecution witness, Peter Okoye, also known as Mr. P of the defunct hip-hop artist music group P-Square, has testified that the defendant, Jude Okoye and his twin brother, Paul Okoye alias Rude Boy were taking money from their company without his knowledge.
He said this in continuation of his evidence-in-chief before Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offences Court, Ikeja at preliminary proceedings on Friday.
The witness had said earlier that Jude’s wife, Ifeoma, owned 80 per cent of Northside Music Limited while Jude retained the remaining 20 per cent shares of the company.
According to him, he did not receive any payment from signee. I have never received and I am not even entitled.
“Even the artist he signed, he used her letter headed paper. I never received payment.
Led by the Prosecutor to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mohammed Bashir, the witness stated that the catalogue belonged to Peter and Paul, and Jude is only the manager.
He stated that an artist pays the manager, not the other way round.
“We have had several managers before him and none of them received royalty.
He also told the court, “The Northside Entertainment Limited did not manage any of my personal affairs.”
Peter further said, “After, I submitted the petition, I was about travelling to Turkey, I was checking things and I saw a document dated March 2023 till October 2024 and the account statement was discovered.
In his words, “I discovered that the defendant and my twin brother were taking money from our account, 950,000 US Dollars, without my knowledge. In the same account, he is the only signatory and I took that statement to EFCC.
He further told the court that the catalogue is for P-Square.
Under cross-examination by the Defence Counsel, Clement Onwuenwunor, SAN, asked the prosecution witness to confirm that there were certain attachments he didn’t tender, mentioning Corporate Affairs Documents of Northside Music and Northside Entertainment Limited, and that he told half-truth to the EFCC.
Peter responded, “I disagree, they were nothing but the truth.”
He was asked several questions, in particular, in the bank mandate, you and your twin brother signed, the witness replied:“I have never had any cheques of Northside Entertainment. Whether I’m in category A or B, I can not remember, But I have never, signed any cheque.”
He was asked to confirm if he and Paul were category B signatory, he said, “We never signed. I have never signed,” he insisted before the court.
Earlier, Peter told the court that the wife of his elder brother, Jude, had 80 percent of the shares of the company that was allegedly used to defraud him.
Jude, who is also the manager of Peter and his twin brother, Paul, is standing trial alongside his company, Northside Music Limited on a four-count charge bordering on theft.
EFCC alleged the defendant of stealing one million dollars and 34, 537 pounds.
The witness revealed to the court that he did not know about the second defendant until he wrote a petition to EFCC.
“I went to EFCC with my lawyer to submit the petition in January 22, 2024 and I initially wrote Northside Music as the respondent and upon various investigations carried out by the commission, it showed that Jude’s wife, Ifeoma is the owner of the company because she owes 80 per cent shares while Jude retain the remaining 20 per cent.
“I submitted the petition and I never spoke to either Paul or Jude until early April in 2024 when EFCC asked if my twin brother was involved and I said I do not know.
“The commission discovered there were over 47 bank account used by Jude to receive royalties,” Peter said.
The witness further told the court that after he had submitted the petition, Paul and Jude were invited in which the elder brother was detained.
According to him, the zonal director of EFCC Lagos office, called for a meeting if the dispute could be settled out of court.
He said: “Jude never denied that he committed the crime but my twin brother right there told me 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 finding, was registered in 2015 and has been operating illegally two years prior to our break-up.”
The prosecution sought to tender the petition dated January 22, 2024 which was filed by the witness and it was admitted into evidence following no objections from the Defence Counsel to the defendants.
Also, the witness had narrated to the court that he and his twin brother started their music career in 1999.
He had said that between 2005 and 2006, the three of them had established a company known as Northside Entertainment Limited, in which all of them were directors and shareholders.
He, however, told the court that Jude was the sole signatory to the three accounts in Ecobank, First City Monument Bank, FCMB and Zenith Bank.
According to him, the accounts both have naira and dollar account and the defendant was the sole manager of all the accounts.
The witness said: “In September 2017, P-Square broke up, and we came back together in November 2021.
“Within the period of time we broke up which was five years, I never received any royalty that were paid into our company.
“Before we broke up in 2017, every royalty was being paid into Northside Entertainment Limited where 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 generate income and so we receive funds from these two aggregators prior to our split.”
The witness further told the court that during the time they were apart, he went as a solo artist, became “Mr. P” and got a different manager.
“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 and I went for a tour in London and some individual approached us if we would like to sell our catalogues 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 catalogues”, Mr. P said.
Justice Oshodi admitted some documents as exhibits, including statements of account.
Meanwhile, the court asked the defendants counsel to furnish the prosecution with copies of documents he tendered before the court.
The judge said,”If you intend to use a document, make it available to them to make the trial faster.
Justice Oshodi adjourned further proceedings till October 10 and 17, 2025 for the continuation of trial.
