Federal High Court Sitting in Lagos State on Wednesday remanded Jude Okoye, the ex manager and elder brother of Peter and Paul of P-Square to Ikoyi Prison over allegations of stealing billions of naira belonging to his younger twin brothers by thus creating an almost similar company name; Northside Music to collect P-Square royalties that ought to belong to the original company, Northside Entertainment.

Details of the report as presented by the Public Relations Unit of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC reads in full below:

“The Lagos Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, arraigned Jude Okoye Chigozie, older brother and ex-manager of Paul and Peter Okoye of the defunct P-Square music group, before Justice A O Owoeye of the Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.

He was arraigned alongside his company, Northside Music Limited, on a seven-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of ₦1.38 billion, $1 million and £34,537.59.

One of the charges reads: “That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie and Northside Music Limited sometimes in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did directly acquire a landed property known as Number 5, Tony Eromosele Street, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos worth ₦850,000,000.00, Eight hundred and fifty million naira only, which money you knew or reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (2) (d) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

Another charge reads: “That you, Jude Okoye Chigozie and Northside Music Limited sometimes in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did indirectly using bureau de change, converted the sum of $1,019,762.87, One million nineteen thousand, seven hundred and six-two dollars eighty seven cents, domiciled in Access Bank Plc operated by Northside Music Limited to the naira equivalent and remitted into various bank accounts with intention of concealing that the said fund formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (2)(a) and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

He pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, following which prosecution counsel, L P Aso, applied for a trial date and for Okoye to be remanded in a correctional facility.

The defence counsel, Inibehe Effiong, however, informed the court of Okoye’s bail application and prayed for a short date of adjournment to enable its hearing. The defence counsel also prayed that the defendant be rather remanded in the EFCC custody pending the hearing of the bail application.

Objecting to the prayer for the defendant to be remanded in EFCC’s custody, the prosecution counsel argued that the Commission’s holding facility was already congested with suspects awaiting arraignment and that the court should remand the defendant in the correctional facility since he has taken his plea.

Justice Owoeye adjourned the matter till February 28, 2025 for the hearing of the bail application and April 14, 2025 for trial, and ordered that the defendant be remanded in Ikoyi Correctional Centre”.

It would be recalled that in August 2024, we had reported that the Nigerian music and break dance star, Peter Okoye aka Mr P of the P-square group has accused his twin brother, Paul Okoye aka Rudeboy and their elder brother, Jude Okoye of working together to always humiliate him with the twin brother telling lies to make fans hate him as if he, Peter is always jealous of him.

Peter Okoye in a news statement captured as an open letter addressed to his twin brother, Paul Okoye, said they have lost command in the pulling of crowds of people or fans unlike when they were together as P-square.

Adding, since they both splitted with different brand names as Mr P and Rudeboy, they have not been able to stage a show with the entire stadium filled with people unlike the years they were together as P-square.

Peter Okoye accused their elder brother of trying to oppress him. Adding, instead of his younger and twin brother, Paul to work together with him to build P-square, he decided to pitch tent with Jude whom in the open letter he described as someone not helping matter.

Peter in the second letter he issued same day, attributed the likely cause of problems in the P-square group to their elder brother, Jude, whom he accused was always stealing their money while they were together as P-square.

According to Peter, their elder brother, secretly created a company similar to the name of the original company they were using to receive royalties as P-square.

Adding, unknown to him, the elder brother diverted millions of dollars and naira of their money to the secret company account which he said, both the elder brother and wife, Ifeoma were the directors of the company. And the address of the registered secret company was the family house of his elder brother’s wife.

He said he never petitioned his twin brother before EFCC, rather, it was his elder brother, Jude that was petitioned, invited, questioned and detained by the EFCC.

Peter Okoye words read verbatim in parts thus: “Before I tell you the whole story, here is what I need you all to understand.

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.

Now, let’s get straight to the point. 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.

The story is very long, but I will tell it all in due time. For now, I will stop here until the EFCC sends the final report to my legal team. Once that happens, before heading to the law court, I will make the exact petition that doesn’t include Paul’s name public. 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. May God help us all.