Brother-On-Brother Drama as Music Exec Grilled Over $1M ‘Theft’ – But Bank Statements Show Massive Payments to Accuser!
By SCM Showbiz Correspondent in Lagos
LAGOS – The bitter feud engulfing pop duo P-Square blew up in a Lagos courtroom yesterday, as bombshell bank statements were revealed in the $1 million theft trial of music executive Jude Okoye.
Okoye, brother to superstar twins Peter and Paul Okoye (the singers behind P-Square), is standing trial accused of diverting over $1 million (£800,000) of company cash into his firm, Northside Music Limited, between 2016 and 2023.
But the plot thickened as his own brother, Peter Okoye – the prosecution’s star witness – was confronted with bank records showing he was a major recipient of the cash!
Cash Storm
In a dramatic cross-examination before Justice Rahman Oshodi, the defence barrister, Clement Onwuenwunor (SAN), read out a string of transactions from the Northside Music Limited account.
The payments, made between December 2022 and December 2023, included a staggering 15 separate payments to Peter Okoye himself, totalling nearly N25 million (£22,000)!
Other eye-watering sums revealed in court included:
N8 million and N1.5 million payments to ‘Travelling Better’ in January and February 2023.
N2.5 million paid to Titilola, Peter Okoye’s wife, in January 2023.
Peter Okoye, who claims he petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after discovering funds were being diverted, insisted the account belonged to their joint P-Square business.
He told the court: “This statement of account belongs to me and my brother. We are P-Square. The company belongs to Peter and Paul.”
Diverting Funds’
Okoye told the court he discovered a second company, Northside Entertainment Ltd, which he claims was also “diverting P-Square’s funds,” and confirmed the accused’s wife owns 800,000 shares in one of the firms.
But the defence’s attempt to submit key documents from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to the court was dramatically shut down by the Judge.
Justice Oshodi ruled the papers did not meet the “admissibility requirements” and bluntly stated: “I reject the documents and mark them as rejected.”
Jude Okoye and Northside Music Limited have both pleaded not guilty to the four-count charge of theft. The trial continues in February 2026.
