Peter Okoye, one half of defunct music group P Square, testified in court against his brother and former manager, Jude Okoye, over alleged diversion.

Jude Okoye and his company, Northside Music Ltd., have been charged with seven counts of allegedly laundering N1.38 billion, $1 million, and £34,537.59.

When the trial over alleged money laundering came up for hearing on Monday, Peter said that he started noticing that Jude was mismanaging and diverting funds meant for the group in 1997/1998.

Peter also told the Federal High Court presided over by Justice Alexander Owoeye that before Jude became their manager, they had others, including Chioma Ugochi and the late Howie-T. But when Jude came on board, things changed.

He testified, saying, “P Square started in 1997/98. Before Jude became our manager, we had others, including Chioma Ugochi and the late Howie-T. But when Jude came on board, things changed. He was the sole signatory to all our accounts—Ecobank, Zenith, and FCMB.

In addition to recalling a particularly annoying incident that occurred during the construction of his home in Ikoyi, Peter noted that this arrangement resulted in regular conflicts that prevented him from accessing funds.

Peter said; “There were months I couldn’t access money. It was so bad that I had to go through our lawyer, Festus Keyamo, to create a sharing formula.”

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“The house project was financed by Northwest Entertainment Ltd, but for six months, they stopped funding mine. When I asked why, I was told, ‘As you leave P-Square, you leave the money.’ That was when I knew something wasn’t right.”

When Peter learned of Northside Music Limited, a business purportedly founded by Jude without the other group members’ knowledge, things took a more sinister turn.

According to him, it looked like it was collecting royalties from P Square and mimicked their official business, Northside Entertainment Ltd.

“By 2022, when people wanted to acquire our albums, I requested a statement of account,” he said. “But Jude refused. Even the account officers at Zenith Bank told me he instructed them not to give me access. They said the only way I could get the documents was through the court.”

Peter added that he found Jude’s own business, Northside Music Ltd., was managed by the same aggregators that handled P-Square’s digital content. He claimed that his attempts to get clarification from Paul, his twin brother, were unsuccessful.

“When I asked Paul, he said: ‘You know say I don’t know anything about it,’ and told me to go meet Jude,” he noted.