The long-running dispute within the Okoye family took another twist last week after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told a Lagos court it has no evidence to support Peter “Mr. P” Okoye’s allegation that his brothers, Jude and Paul, fraudulently withdrew $800,000 from their company accounts.
What began in 2024 as a financial audit request by Peter has evolved into one of Afrobeats’ most dramatic family-business sagas — raising deeper questions about trust, transparency, record-keeping and the buried tensions behind P-Square’s eventual breakup.
Peter had accused Jude of diverting P-Square revenues, manipulating ownership structures, and operating 47 undeclared bank accounts — claims that shocked fans and triggered an official investigation. The EFCC’s initial probe resulted in Jude and Northside Music Limited being arraigned on charges of converting over $1 million and £34,000 in royalties.
But the narrative shifted again when Peter, during cross-examination earlier this year, claimed newly discovered documents showed Jude and Paul shared over $800,000 between 2023 and 2024 — a timeline he later revised to the P-Square peak era of 2013–2014. The inconsistency became a key point of scrutiny for the defence.
Last Friday, that scrutiny reached a pivotal moment.
EFCC counsel Mohammed Bashir told the court plainly that the commission could not tender anything to back the $800,000 allegation. His stance was unambiguous:
“We do not have it. It is his evidence. Let him prove it. I can’t give what I don’t have.”
Beyond weakening Peter’s new claims, the admission highlighted a deeper tension: the gap between allegations rooted in emotional fractures and the hard documentation required for a criminal conviction.
The commission also said it had no records suggesting Jude operated 47 bank accounts — another major claim Peter had repeated publicly. The defence went even further, tendering CAC documents contradicting Peter’s insistence that Jude held an 80% stake in Northside Entertainment.
In his own testimony, Peter admitted that he only discovered the existence of Northside Music in 2024 after receiving artiste Cynthia Morgan’s contract, despite her projects being credited to Northside Inc. That revelation cast fresh light on the communication breakdown that has defined the brothers’ relationship for years.
Now, with the EFCC distancing itself from crucial parts of Peter’s allegations, the case appears increasingly dependent on his ability to provide personal evidence — something the defence will no doubt challenge vigorously when the trial continues on December 12, 2025.
What remains clear is that the courtroom battle goes far beyond spreadsheets and royalties; it is the legal echo of emotional fractures that once split Africa’s biggest pop duo — a reminder of how unresolved disputes can outlive even the music.
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