The lingering mêlée involving Peter and Paul Okoye with their brother and manager, Jude Okoye and the owner of the property in which they currentltly reside in Omole Estate, Phase 1, Lagos is gradually degenerating into a scenario of shame with accusations and counter accusations flying like missiles from both camps. The two parties held a press conference concurrently in Lagos last week to elucidate the genesis of the squabble.It will be recalled that late last year, P-Square’s landlord, Chief L Charles Nwangwa, the Chairman/CEO of Zedex Petroleum Nig. Ltd. staged a press conference in Lagos to intimate the public on the damages the Okoye brothers had done to his property by breaking a concrete wall dividing the two rooms in the BQ and converted it into a musical studio without his consent. He revealed then that the most annoying thing they did that got him really upset was lying to the media that they had bought the house. He described it as a shameful and cut-price hype on the part of the artiste. The Okoye brothers however maintained sealed lips then.The ruckus later re-generated few days back when the landlord called a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday September 29th and claimed that the Okoye brothers’ squad attacked him on Monday September 28th when he had gone to dispatch the quit notice that is expected to take effect from October 1st, to them based on his lawyer’s advice. “…one guy assaulted me in the presence of witnesses and a crowd had begun to gather when Jude finally appeared. I managed to free myself from the clutches of the guy that was holding me and I gave the letter to Jude which he read and my efforts to make him sign the acknowledgement earned me more battering. I immediately reported the case to the police”. These and many more the landlord told Journalists present at the conference after which he took them to the house but the Okoye brothers refused them entry.The next day which was Wednesday September 30th, P-Square organized their own emergency press conference at their residence where they put in plain words their own part of the story to the media. They revealed that the man had never been beaten before like he publicly professed. “We actually started on a good note before things went sore between us. He was a constant feature in the same studio he is now complaining about. We started having disagreements when he began bringing people to us to sign on our label and we told him we were not ready for that now. He later brought his son and we told him the same thing. Another time he said he wanted to take up the marketing of our albums and we also refused. That was how we fell out and he started saying derogatory things about us. He called a press conference last year but we refused to comment. What further escalated the issue was his demand on a percentage from our album sales because we have a recording studio inside the compound”, Jude Okoye said.Peter and Paul have for a long time distanced themselves from this feud. They claimed that they actually didn’t interact much with the landlord because all businesses were transacted between him and Jude. The Okoyes later revealed that the original agreement was to buy the house from the landlord but they abandoned the plan to commence the building of their own house inside the same estate when the landlord kept increasing the price whenever they approached him with the subject matter. Journalists present at the press conference in their house were later taken on an inspection to the new site where the construction of the house is currently going on. Those present affirmed that it was magnificent.However, the landlord said he has brought them before the court of public opinion to judge the case between him and the Okoye brothers. He also appealed to their mum to help salvage the situation but the Okoye brothers maintained that they are unperturbed by his actions. Their house rent expires next yearMeanwhile, they revealed that their new album has sold a million copies since its release.Read more…
