So many did not know the real reason behind the sudden separation of the twin music act Peter and Paul Okoye popularly known as P-Square, all they know is that the duo penultimate week dissolves the group which gained fame in the year 2011 after winning Golden Tunes music competition sponsored by Benson & Hedges that year.
Two years after the twin brothers released their first album of nine tracks including two hit tracks Senorita and Igbedu in 2003 and ever since has been top of their games winning awards locally and internationally with multi-million naira endorsements from various brands.
The duo who were known to be very good in singing and dancing, little did most of their fans know that while Peter leads the singing department, Paul oversees the dancing capacity, only what was made public was that their elder brother Jude Okoye is the brain behind the production of the songs and directing of the fantastic videos which earned P-square a grand in the world most viewed music video.
Now who planted the seed of discord that led to their separation? Huummmmm
Trouble started in the once peaceful group when the man in charge of the dancing department Paul suddenly realized he could write and sing also, there, the rivalry started and the battle for supremacy began.
On many occasions, their late mother Mrs. Josephine Okoye has been an intercessor, solicitor and peace maker whatever it takes to bring her boys back on track whenever any ugly incidence raised its head, but little did she know that it is only for some time before hell will be let loosed and P-Square will go separate ways just like most music groups like Plantashun Boys, (Tuface, Face and Black Face) Style Plus, to mention few out of so many Nigerian music groups who had gone separate ways as a result of one thing or the other.
It was also gathered that the Chief Executive Officer of Dangote group, Aliko Dangote with his wealth and influence tried all he could to settle the rift but all was to no avail as the only person they listen to is Mrs. J. Okoye who is now resting in peace.
The main cause of the rift is that Peter and Jude (their elder brother) had always not been close because Jude has always been in support of Paul against his twin brother whenever any decision regarding their career and project is to be taken. This has over the years made Peter’s opinions more or less irrelevant, and he had been nursing that grudge over the years. This is the genesis of the crisis.
Some times ago, Peter got a royalty deal through the assistance of the former Senegalese footballer El-haji Diouf with a company in France, while he was processing the deal, Jude and Paul never believed it, but within a few weeks, every member of the group got their royalty payment in their different bank accounts, the money was paid in dollars. The terms of the royalty states that they would be getting the payment every quarter that was the beginning of the crisis.
Things went from bad to worse for the group when Paul realized how lucrative the royalty pay is he then made a suggestion that being the writer and singer of all P-Square’s songs, he deserves the lion share of the largesse. But Peter disagreed and insisted that Jude’s share of the company should rather be slashed.
At this point, Jude exclaimed over my dead body. That was the beginning of the breakup.
Of course, there were many efforts from different quarters to reconcile the warring brothers, but Peter, who started the social media fight insisted that the only condition he would make peace is that henceforth, every P-Square song and album will be recorded by him and Paul on a 50-50 basis. Paul and Jude reluctantly agreed after much persuasion. That was why they both have equal songs on the ‘Double Trouble’ album, unlike how it was before when it was only Paul that records all their songs according to a source.
To make matter worse, Paul and Jude attributed the little success recorded by the album Double Trouble to the ‘whack’ songs done by Peter. They therefore reiterated that henceforth, the status quo should remain. That is Paul is expected to continue writing and singing all the songs while Peter leads the choreography. This we learnt made the situation move from worse to worst and as it stands now all parties seems to have gone solo.
