Like a hurricane, the crisis between the Psquare brothers- along with their brother Jude- continues to shock fans as new information gets out on daily basis. Yesterday, it was notice of termination served by Peter and only this morning, a video of a heated argument between them surfaced on the internet.
However, all of this is not new: last year Peter Okoye sat with NET in an exclusive interview where he bared his mind on the now perennial crisis. He wanted Jude out as far back as 2012 and said he only kept quiet ‘out of respect’.
Below are excerpts from that interview.
1. ‘The truth is, the fans should be happy that we were able to drop the ‘Double Trouble’ album in 2014. What’s happening now should have happened then.’
2. ‘The issue was the fact that I was in Psquare and it felt like I was in fear. If I don’t do this, Psquare will break-up, if I don’t do that, Psquare will scatter.’
3. ‘Four years ago, I told Jude he needs to step down as our manager, because I didn’t want to disrespect him as a brother, but this is business, [and] we have to structure it. And Jude said to me that there’s a way I [should] talk to him, and [threatened to] slap me. So I kept quiet.’
4. ‘Truth is, I’ve not been in talking terms with Paul since December 2015 and that was why I travelled in January because I had a lot on my mind.
5. ‘Psquare featured on songs with J-Martins, Bracket,LKT, 9ice and these 4 songs were done by Paul alone, but guess what, did I appear in the videos, YES.
We have other collabos with Kaha, Darey,Ruggedman. I did these songs alone. How come they don’t have videos? Paul refused to appear in the videos.’
6. The last collabo we did was with Flavour and I refused to do another one.
7. ‘I was surprised to realize that Paul had told them {at Mavin Studio} that I don’t sing or write songs. The next day, I went to Paul and told him how I felt when I heard what he said. Only for Jude to say that he made Paul the lead singer of Psquare 8 years ago!
8. ‘It’s really sad that people have labelled me ‘Dancer’ and they don’t really know what I do for Psquare. Kudos to Paul, I’m not a good songwriter; in fact, I’ll rate myself 30%, so when it comes to song writing, I give it to Paul 100%.’
9. ‘This whole thing began when Paul went online and started posting lyrics of most of our songs on Instagram [and saying]that he wrote them all, just because Peter brought in something to the table. I had been trying to bring more business for Psquare. I didn’t know it was going to cause problems.
10. ‘I remember I once told Paul something when Jude became our manager; he was using the term ‘Our Money,’ that was when we made our first 1 million [naira]. I called Paul and told him that our former manager used to make about 15%, and now that Jude is our manager, let’s think of a percentage that we’ll be giving him and put it on paper. Paul said it’s not necessary. He probably went to tell Jude about it. I’m sorry to say this, but I think Paul is weak.’
11.‘On December 14, 2015, we sat down to have a meeting hoping to set a proper structure in place, but Paul noticed that it wasn’t working the way he wanted, so he said he’s starting a new group. I thought he meant he wanted to start a record label, and he was like no, he’s starting a new group that he belongs to. And Jude simply said, ‘anybody stop you?’ He picked up his phones and walked out of the meeting. I felt it had already been discussed behind me. I later found out that Paul was already recruiting for the group and Jude is their manager. At the moment I hear they are called ‘The MVPs’ I don’t know what it means yet.’
12. I went on social media to protect our careers, because if I didn’t do that, Psquare will not release any material anytime soon, they’ll be busy promoting their artistes. And I remember going to talk to Paul about it before I went on social media. I went to his house, and he was in his room with his friend, [whom I asked to excuse us, but] Paul said, no, his friend should stay, [and that] anything I want to say should be said in front of him. So I said, no, you know we are brothers and he was like, ‘oh, na now you know say we be brothers.’
13. ‘Before I announced my management, I wanted my mind to be clear, so I went back to Paul, this time we were alone and we [discussed things]; I told him I had no issues with him, but he needs to stop letting Jude use him as a shield. Both of us started shedding tears, and when we finished he still said he hopes I’m not here to tell him that I still want Psquare, and I told him I want to move on, because he already has a manager (Jude) and I don’t.’
14. ‘To be honest with you, I feel if our mum was still alive, we would have pushed her to her grave with this whole thing. It’s really sad that even with everything going on, I still stand with Paul.’
15. ‘It still boils down to the fact that Psquare was not structured. Music is like football, Messi has his manager, Neymar has his manager, Suarez has his manager, but when they get to the pitch, they play as a team.’
16. ‘When Jude didn’t come to my wedding, people started saying we broke up and then others said it’s a stunt. When Paul posted those lyrics on Instagram people thought it was a stunt too, but the truth is that this is not and has never been a publicity stunt. I am telling you the truth.’
Read the full interview here.