The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Lagos Zonal Directorate 1, on Monday, April 14, 2025, opened its case against Jude Chigozie Okoye, elder brother and former manager of pop duo P-Square, in an ongoing trial over alleged N1.38 billion fraud.

 Testifying before Justice A. Owoeye of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, the EFCC presented Peter Obumuneme Okoye, one-half of the music duo as its first prosecution witness (PW1).

 Jude Okoye is being prosecuted alongside his company, Northside Music Limited, on a seven-count charge bordering on money laundering. One of the counts alleges that the defendant, in 2022, acquired a property worth N850 million located at No. 5, Tony Eromosele Street, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, using funds suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activity.

He pleaded not guilty upon arraignment on February 26, 2025. Led in evidence by prosecution counsel Aso Larry Peters, Peter Okoye detailed the history of the P-Square group and the eventual fallout between the brothers over financial management. “The group, P-Square started sometime in 1997. But in 2017, it was disbanded. We stayed apart for about five years. But in November 2021, the group came back,” Peter told the court. He recounted that Jude became their manager after a string of others including Chioma Ugochi and the late Bayo Odusami of Mbuntu Music.

Eventually, Peter and his twin brother, Paul, decided that Jude should handle management through Northside Entertainment Limited. "But we were always having issues about how he was running the business," he said.

 "The issues were mainly about the fact that he was the sole signatory to all our bank accounts in Ecobank, Zenith and FCMB.” According to Peter, he lacked access to the group’s accounts, prompting legal intervention from their then-lawyer, now Minister of Aviation, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN. He also told the court that while building his house in Ikoyi, funding from the group’s company ceased without explanation for six months. “At some point, I approached him and my twin brother, Paul, to know why they stopped financing my project. But what I heard from them was ‘As you leave P-square, u leave the money.’” The witness said his suspicion grew when he discovered a company named Northside Music Limited similar to their original company while trying to track earnings from their music catalogue. “In 2022, I discovered this when some people wanted to acquire our albums... I didn’t have access to 'backend'... I then demanded that I wanted to know the backend. But he refused.” Peter testified that Paul appeared uninformed about the operations of Northside Music and that Jude remained evasive about account statements. He continued: “The account officer at Zenith Bank later told me that Jude told him not to send it to me... the only way I could get it was through the court.” Peter said he later got approval to transfer the P-Square catalogue to a third party, Mad Solution, and subsequently received over $22,000 in royalties—his first payment in years. He alleged that Jude and Paul had already received their own payments.

 Upon deeper scrutiny, Peter said he visited the Corporate Affairs Commission and discovered that the directors of Northside Music Limited were Jude and his wife, with his wife holding an 80% share. On further inquiry into the backend reports, Peter said, “They responded that the backend had been tampered with, which suggested that the people who offered $8000 USD could not offer $500 USD, owing to the fact that the numbers had reduced.” Peter added that his efforts to reconcile the matter with his brother Paul were unsuccessful. “He told me that he was tired of all this and that I could do my worst.” He also testified that a tax consultant, Emmanuel, informed him that Jude had claimed the group was no longer active, yet bank records showed payments from aggregators into the Access Bank account throughout 2017. “I then contacted my lawyer, Afolabi, who now took the matter to the EFCC,” he concluded.

 Justice Owoeye adjourned the case till June 4, 2025, for cross-examination.