The trial of Jude Okoye, the former manager of P-square Musical Group, over the alleged money laundering to the tune of ₦1.38 billion, $1 million, and £34,537.59, before a Federal High Court, Lagos began today, with his younger brother, Peter Obumuneme Okoye, testifying against him.

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel Aso Larry, Peter, who introduced himself as Peter Obumuneme Okoye, told the court, how his brother, Jude incorporated another company to collect their royalties.

He narrated his story thus: “Sometimes in 2017, the group P-square was disbanded, we were apart for nearly 5 years. In November 2021, the group came back. P-square started in 1997-98. Before Jude became our manager, we had other managers that included Chioma Ugochi who managed us when we were in secondary, and in the University. We also had late Bayo Odusami of Mbuntu Music who managed us for five years. After this, myself and my  twin brother,  Paul managed ourselves for a couple of months, before we decided that he (Jude) should manage us and Northside Entertainment Ltd;

“We continued running our business and after sometime, we started having issues on how he ran the business. The issues were mainly on how he was the sole signatory to all our bank accounts in Ecobank, Zenith Bank and FCMB;

“Whenever we have these issues which lasted for months, I don’t have access to money. Not until when Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN) now Minister of Aviation, our lawyer came up that with the idea that we should have a sharing formula;

“There was a scenario that happened when we were building our houses in Ikoyi, whereby it’s only the defendant that can signed out money. The finance of the house project was by Northwest Entertainment Ltd, but they stopped financing my house for six months;

“The accounts were owned by the company, while the defendant was the only signatory to all the accounts. Within that six months, when we came back, I approached the defendant and my twin brother, Paul, why they stopped financing my project.  hat I heard from them was ‘as you leave P-square, you leave the money’. With this comment, I approached our lawyer, Keyamo, who asked me whether if i want to buy a phone, I need to ask the first defendant. All our money is in Northside Entertainment which he is the sole signatory;

“Sometimes in 2017, the group was disbanded for five years. On November 17, 2021 there was a reunion again, and this time the defendant was no longer managing us. I discovered that there was a company similar to ours, Northside Music Limited, and by the end of 2022, I made the discovery when some people wanted to acquire our albums. These individuals demanded for our statement of account to know how much the albums generated monthly. Because I don’t have access to the ‘backend which can be traced through Northside account and through the aggregators (aggregator are people who signed in when they play your music on any medium (Youtube, i-tune…) you get paid, either monthly or  quarterly. I demanded from Jude that I wanted to know the backend from the deft but he refused. Then I went to my twin, Paul, who replied and said: ‘You know that I don’t know anything about it but Jude, I said  he should go with me to  meet him(Jude). He replied that he he’ll go and meet him then I left him;

A few weeks later, I  approached Paul again and asked whether he had contacted Jude. He replied that Jude told him that he did not have the time. He(Paul)  approached Jude again and he  told him that my share of the money was with some people in South Africa. He replied Paul that I was not asking for money but the backend and the statement of accounts. Again, there was no positive response”.

Peter further told the court that based on the defendant response, he knew that something was going on, he then asked the accounts officers in both Eco Bank and Zenith Bank. However, he could not get a satisfactory response from the account officers. He added that the account officer at the Zenith Bank later told him that Jude gave them instructions not to send give the information out. The officer told him that the only way I can get it is through the court.

He further told the court that he discovered that the same aggregators handling P-Square’s music company are the same people handling Paul’s and the defendant’s.  He then approached Paul that he should give them the albums of P-Square but both Jude and Paul were not comfortable with that.

Peter in his evidence further told the court that he started feeling suspicious. Then  they (Jude and Paul) gave in and  made the catalogue available. They both promised to start making payments after three months that they signed. He added that three months after signing,  he received over $22000. When he asked if the money is for three of them, they he replied that both Jude and Paul have been paid.

He told the court further until then, he did not have idea of a company called Northside Music. He decided not to meet Jude but he approached Paul and asked if he knew Northside Music, he directed  him to check Cynthia Morgan album, who was an artist signed by Jude. When he check Cynthia Morgan album, it had  Northside Incorporation,  not Northside Music. He then again approached Jude and asked for the same backend. Jude told him that it’s going to take three and a half months to retrieve the catalogues. He said that by the time he forwarded the catalogue to the buyers, it was confirmed that it had been tampered with because rather than showing figures, it only showed numbers. The buyers who initially offered $8000 could  not buy for $500 because the figures had reduced.

He further told the court how he went to Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) site, where he discovered that the director of Northside Music were Jude Okoye and his wife. And also discovered that Jude’s wife owns 80% while Jude owned 20%.

He also told the court that the man handling their tax called and came to his house and said Jude should pay a little above two million or there about. The tax man’s name is Emmanuel. Jude was able to prove that since they broke up, they have not been performing. But when he checked the statement of account from 1 January 1 to December 2017, he discovered that all that paid money to the Access Bank account statement were all aggregators.

He stated that based on all these  discoveries, he contacted his lawyer, one Afolabi who now took him to the EFCC where he write the petition against his brother

Jude, is being tried before Justice Alexander Owoeye’s court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the petition written to the commission by his brother, Peter.

He is standing trial before the court alongside his company, Northside Music Limited, on a seven-count charge of the offences.

One of the charges reads: “that you, Jude Okoye Chigozie and Northside Music Limited sometime in 2022, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did directly acquire a landed property known as No 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 Okoye and his company, in 2022, used a Bureau De Change to convert $1,019,762.87 USD, held in an Access Bank account operated by Northside Music Ltd, into naira and transferred the funds into various bank accounts to conceal the illicit origin of the money.

This alleged act, according to the EFCC, violates Section 18 (2)(a) and is punishable under Section 18 (3) of the same Act. He denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Further hearing of the matter as been adjourned to June 4, for cross-examination.

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