Everywhere, the news is that the favorite twin faces of hip-hop in Nigeria have split and as disheartening as that sounds, not on a peaceful note. In a letter sent to their lawyer, Festus Keyamo (SAN), Peter demanded a termination of their agreement as a group.
Basing his decision on a number of allegations against his twin brother, Paul, and their older brother and Manager, Jude, Peter has decided to call it quits with the group and go solo.
He accused Paul of unwillingness to co-operate with him, and even going as far as cancelling their scheduled musical tour of the United States. He also added that Paul was guilty of slandering his wife and children on social media, and alleged that his family was being threatened with messages. Peter also accused the twin’s older brother of once threatening to kill him and shoot his wife, Lola. Peter stressed that he was tired of the “drama” and all he wanted was to opt out of the group and the contract binding them.
A video surfaced on the internet on the 26th of September, 2017, which was filmed in the office of Mr. Keyamo, in which Paul reportedly screamed at Peter, declaring in very angry tones “Peter you’re a disgrace” while Jude attempted to physically assault Peter.
The video of the brothers fighting has caused a tremendous stir on the Nigerian social space as music lovers and music makers alike have been calling on the brothers to reconcile their differences and clean up their mess. Also, this occurrence has caused music critics to wander down memory lane in search of what the actual reasons for this debacle may be.
At the moment, reasons for the breakup of the music duo are still multifarious and, at most, sketchy. When Paul Okoye posted on his Instagram page “only a woman can come where there is peace and destroy it”, attention was piqued. Speculations began to fly that the main reason for this split was a woman, possibly, Lola Okoye. However, Peter recently went on social media to declare that he and his wife were being threatened. “I fear for my life and the life of my family. Remember Jude has threatened to kill me and shoot my wife in the presence of Paul and Mrs. Imoke” Peter said, after stating that trouble started when he asked Jude to resign as their manager.
In an interview with NET published by Pulse.ng on 20th of March, 2016, Peter said
“Four years ago, I told Jude that he needs to step down as our manager, because I didn’t want to disrespect him as a brother, but this is business, we have to structure it. And Jude said to me that there’s a way I’ll talk to him, and he’ll slap me. So I kept quiet”
“So, a few hours after, Paul came to me and said if I want Jude to step down it’s not a problem, but it’ll mean that he (Paul) will go solo. The first time word got out about Psquare breaking up, a lot of people called us, senators, governors, and people like that. In fact three of us were once in a private jet to go and see someone who wanted to resolve our issues and we didn’t speak to each other all through the flight. At the end of the day, I swallowed my pride for peace to reign and allowed Jude to remain as our manager”
From the first time the brothers broke apart till the time they came back and made up with their apology to their fans, Peter’s major complain has been and still is the issue of being disrespected continuously by his brothers and being often relegated to the background.
In the 2016 interview, he stated that
“It’s really sad that people have labeled me ‘Dancer’, and people 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 songwriting, I give it to Paul 100%.
“However, not writing songs does not disqualify you from being a musician. I’ve travelled a lot and most times people ask, ‘which one are you, the singer or the dancer’? And it’s really sad”
“In Psquare, I am the creative person, I can sit-down and tell you what people want to hear, what they want to see and what they want to learn from Psquare. But it’s not something to brag about”
And following the recent debacle, Peter also made remarks with regards to being disrespected by his twin brother. He said on his Instagram handle
“Psquare is no more. I have nothing against my brothers. I saw Paul’s post on Instagram about blood being thicker than water. Who is water and who is blood?”
One major lesson many say they learn from the whole crisis is that there is no impossibility where monetary interest is involved. Hostility among adult twins is rare.
Ace broadcaster and CEO of Kennis Music, Kenny Ogungbe, has however dismiss the whole incident calling it a publicity stunt. Mr. Ogungbe argued that PSquare already recorded 100 songs hence splitting to become solo artistes when consumers are yearning for songs by younger artistes can only make sense as a game.
“I am sure they have a massive show coming up in December, and they are using this as a publicity stunt…” He said.
