THENETNG spent some time with him in his Lekki-home
on Thursday, March 17, having been invited by his new
manager, Olatunde Michaels of Play Centre.
When we arrive, he’s sitting in the living room, with a
young assistant keeping him company. He’s dressed
casually, in a patterned T-shirt and a pair of dark blue
jeans.
‘How now’?
‘I’m okay man. Long long time.’
We hugged briefly as I sat next to him.
But something is wrong.
Peter and Paul, who live just a building apart, rarely set
eyes on one another. They’re no longer the inseparable
duo everyone loves to love. They haven’t performed
together since December 28, 2015. In fact, they’ve only
seen each other a couple of times since then, in rather
hostile circumstances, Peter tells Nigerian Entertainment
Today. After years of dealing with family issues and
trying to solve their differences, they’re now dishing out
dirty details on social media, using their very own hands
to drag a brand they’ve built over nearly two decades
through the mud.
‘I and Paul stay together in this estate and the last time I
saw him was about a week ago.’
But you live in the same premises. Why is this so?
‘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.
Something happened at Mavin Studios last year that
broke my heart.
Now listen to this, 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’.
‘Now hear this, 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.’
‘So I told Paul that when next he does a collabo alone, he
should be in the video alone, because it got to a point
where artistes began to feel if they did a collabo with Paul
it [would] get a video, but if it was me, it [wouldn’t] get a
video.
The last collabo we did was with Flavour and I refused to
do another one. Even Flavour had to speak all the Igbo he
knows to convince me before I agreed to do it. Only for
my brother to come and tell me that ‘shey I thought you
said you won’t appear in any video that I did the collabo
alone? Why did you appear on this one?’. I was sad but I
knew another one will come’.
‘So Tiwa Savage called me; apparently Paul had done a
song with her – not the campaign song they are
promoting now, another Psquare collabo entirely. So she
[said] she’s been trying to reach Paul to get the CD of the
song from him [because] he’s already done his part, so I
went to Paul’s house to help ask for it and tell him I want
to go to the studio to do my verse and he said he doesn’t
know where the CD is.’
‘I went to the Mavin studio to meet Tiwa. When I got
there, she asked for the CD and I told her Paul didn’t give
me any CD, so I called him again and gave the phone to
Tiwa and [he] told her on phone that the CD is at Omole,
so I got into the studio, recorded my verse and when I
finished, everybody was clapping. I was surprised to
realize that Paul had [told] them that I don’t sing or write
songs.’
‘I felt really bad and betrayed, but I covered up for him. I
jokingly asked Teebillz if they gave him Red Label and he
said yes, so I was like you guys caused it, and we
laughed over it. So when my assistant went to pick up the
CD, Paul and Jude started shouting at him to ‘ask Peter
what is he doing at the Mavin studio? He knows how we
work.’ 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! A
leader leads, he doesn’t destroy.’
‘When it came to decision-making, it was always a
Triangle formation, and the highest vote wins.
‘I’ll give you an instance’.
‘We had to go perform somewhere once, and because I
had a slight argument with Paul, he said he wasn’t going.
It was the wedding of the President’s daughter. When I
got to the airport my brother wasn’t there, and I [didn’t
know] how I was going to explain to the President that we
[couldn’t] perform. I made up my mind to go with the
band, perform like that and lie that my brother was sick.
So we left for Abuja, and when we got to the hotel, my
assistant manager called [to say] he was on the way to
the airport with Paul, so we had to wait for them to land
in Abuja and that was why we couldn’t make it on time to
the reception.’
‘The president was mad. In fact, Mama Peace (Patience
Jonathan) was really mad. But we eventually made up for
it with a performance at the Gala night. Only for Jude to
[tell me that] Paul said he wasn’t going for a show and I
still went [without him]. Imagine if Jude had a proper
structure and we had contracts? That wouldn’t happen.
And it was more because the show came through me. If
the show came through Jude, it wouldn’t have happened.
I don’t have a problem with doing things as a family, but
structure and proper organization is important too. The
name Psquare is very big outside but inside we have no
structure. I see people like Audu of Chocolate City, Mavin
Records, even Ubi Franklin, and I wanted us to have a
structure like that. Psquare is just up there because of
the grace of God.’
You’ve said a lot about Jude being the problem, and how
you’re the minority. But, really, as Peter, what do you
bring to the table?
‘It’s really sad that people have labeled 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%.
‘However, not writing songs does not disqualify you from
being a musician. I can tell you for free that a Nigerian
wrote two of the songs on Rihanna’s new album. 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.’
‘Jude directs all our videos.’
‘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. I sent my manager to a meeting
in Senegal to meet with Universal music about getting us
deals, and when he came back, the way they responded
to him wasn’t encouraging.’
‘So I had to send Diouf (the footballer) to help get the
documents and convince my brothers before we could
pull through with the deal. After some months, we started
making money. Meanwhile, while filling the forms, Jude
filled everything as Psquare. So the first payment came
and we shared it. The second payment was bigger, and
we shared it too. That was when Paul said we had to re-
fill the form and give proper credit to the songwriter
(Himself) and said if the form wasn’t brought back, he
would expose me and tell the world that he writes all the
songs. The next day he went online to post those lyrics.
So my question is, when he was doing that what did Jude
do about it? Absolutely nothing!’
PAUL IS WEAK
‘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.’
‘You know they say change is constant, you can’t stay in
one spot. As the industry moves, you move. So I won’t
say the problem we have is money. I think everybody is
just dragging power unnecessarily. Imagine Jude telling
me that he’s in charge of Psquare and there’s nothing
Peter and Paul can do about it, and I look at Paul and he’s
quiet about it. I’ve never seen where a manager talks to
his artistes anyhow. If there’s an issue you should call us
aside quietly to talk about it.’
WHY I CALLED OUT JUDE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
‘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.’
‘So how do you expect me to be managed by the same
person we’ve been having issues with, who is now the
manager of the other group? There’ll surely be conflict of
interest.’
‘[Recently] Jude called me, after I had said he was fired.
He called me on a Thursday to say ‘Hope you know we
are going to the embassy tomorrow for that show in
Holland.’ I know about the show, [because] it was already
booked before the issues started, so I told him, ‘Bro you
are not my manager, talk to my manager.’ He said,
‘Noted.’ The next day, they went to the embassy with the
new group members, which means they had already set
up their interviews at the embassy because it’s not
possible to get an appointment in less than 24 hours. I
traced the organisers and told them Jude represents only
Paul. I told them this is what it takes to get Peter and
Paul, Peter alone or Paul alone.’
‘So 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.’ I told him I came to talk to
him about what’s been happening, but it was turning into
an argument so I left and I travelled out. I was away for
over a month, knowing that we didn’t have any shows at
that time. I went to Turkey and London to rest my mind,
my friend Samuel Eto’o invited me to come.’
Peter and Eto'o2
HOW I FIRED JUDE
‘The day I fired Jude was at a concert. The day I came
back, we had a show, so I went straight to the venue in
Lagos and told Jude I want to talk to him, and he said I
should say anything I want to say in front of everyone,
[which] was the same attitude Paul gave me before I
travelled. So Jude said if I like, I should get out, and I said
‘guy don’t embarrass me.’ He said who are you, because
you think you are Psquare? So I told him openly that if he
cannot resolve me and Paul’s issue, he doesn’t deserve to
be our manager, and he said I should get out. There and
then I told him ‘You are fired’! He looked at me and said,
‘You fit fire me?’ That was when I entered my car and
started tweeting. How else can you take him out?’
‘[In fact,] long before I made up my mind, Paul had
already said there’s no more Psquare, [and that] if Jude
leaves, he goes with him.'
‘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, so I
had to structure myself too. And I didn’t want to allow the
Psquare name to fade before moving on. Look at Don
Jazzy and Dbanj, when they broke up, they waited for like
6 months and had to start again. Now, that Psquare just
broke up, let me use the name to move on quickly,
because there’s no time.’
IF OUR MUM WAS STILL ALIVE
‘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.’
SIGNING SOLO DEALS
‘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’.
‘Before I did the Olympic deal, I’d brought some deals for
Psquare. The people endorsing Psquare only see Peter
and Paul, but behind [the scenes] its Peter, Paul and Jude
so the price goes so high that it never works.’
‘But when a deal comes to my table, it’s not like they
called Jude and I went behind to talk to them, the deal
came directly to me from Jude’s friend. He called me and
told me about it, and before then I had already established
my own beverage factory and the deal coming was from
PZ, which means I could do more business with them, so
should I lose that deal because they didn’t call Jude?’
‘I asked them why me and not Psquare, and they said
they couldn’t afford Psquare, and the brand was tailored
to fit one person. So I went back to tell Paul and Jude and
they didn’t say anything. They didn’t ask me not to do it.
Don’t get it wrong, we’ve been doing different private
businesses, the only difference was that the Olympic deal
came out in public. I’ve been doing mass housing
projects on my own, Paul has been doing real estate,
Jude has been doing his own thing, he even [set up the]
Northside record label, so it’s not like it’s the first thing
I’m doing alone. It’s just the first one that went public.’
‘So even when I decide to open my beverage factory,
people will still ask why I am doing it alone without my
brother.’
THE NEXT LEVEL
‘Because I announced new management, people feel I’m
the one going solo, but Paul has already gone solo. He’s
moved on and didn’t need to announce any new
management because he still works with Jude, so I had to
announce mine and believe it or not, people are booking
me for gigs already.’
‘And guess what, I’ll still perform Psquare songs, nobody
can stop me, nobody can stop Paul too, we didn’t have a
contract with Jude, so I have the right to perform Psquare
songs especially the ones I took part in’.
‘I’ll also consider releasing solo songs and even albums.
Truth is – in the last album Paul did some songs alone, I
did some songs alone. ‘Bring It On’ was Paul alone, ‘Eje
Ajo’, ‘Shekini’ was done by me alone’.
‘Remember the 4 songs ‘Free For Fans’ that we released,
those songs were removed from the last album and I
leaked them’.
‘I have some songwriters already, V-Tek writes for me,
and I’m still bringing up more’.
‘Because of what was happening, it was like two against
one, so I said let’s share our properties. When I said that,
Paul said if we want to share our properties, Jude must
get the same share with us otherwise Psquare will split
and I was like ‘SPLIT-AGAIN?’
‘Our lawyer came and told Paul that it’s wrong to share it
equally with Jude, but he insisted, so we divided every
property we owned in Lagos, Jos, America, Abuja. In-fact
the right and left wing of the Square Ville mansion
belongs to Paul and Jude now.
So that was how we shared all our properties equally
among the three of us about two or three years ago.’
‘After sharing everything, I called Paul again and spoke to
him about a proper structure. We’ve been with people like
Akon and co and we see how it’s done. Right now,
Psquare has millions of dollars in royalties hanging in the
air.’
‘All our endorsement and shows are shared equally
between the three of us as well.’
‘After what it took to share our properties, I was
embarking on a project, so I needed more money and I
wanted to sell my house in America and buy something
smaller, because I spend close to $30,000 to maintain
that condo every year.’
‘So I called my caretaker to begin the process and she
told Jude and Paul to send their data page and passport
photographs, but they refused because they know I
wanted to the sell the house. And see the value of dollars
now. The house was valued at 100M then, but if I sell it
now, I could make extra 250M.’
‘And we already signed paper works and document of the
house that it belongs to me but Jude ignored it, so I called
our lawyer, Festus Keyamo to inform him about the
development. He called them and they both refused to
pick his call, so he sent them a text and requested that we
should have a meeting, but Jude replied him and said no
need for a meeting that the America house will be sold.’
‘Paul said we agreed and signed on how to share but we
haven’t really shared it yet, after all Jude is still holding
on to the documents.’
‘Three of us have properties close to each other in
Parkview and that’s why I want to sell my own and move
to Banana Island.’
‘I can’t really understand why they don’t want a structure,
to me I think it’s ignorance, and if I decide to do it, it’ll
seem like I’m looking for trouble.’
Jude, who dissociated himself from Psquare in a social
media post on Thursday, hours after our interview with
Peter, declined commenting for this story. He told our
correspondent ‘I’m sorry I can’t talk about it.’
MY WIFE AND MY MUM
‘People think we changed when we started having wives.
Before my mum died, she was at St Nicholas hospital on
the island, and my sisters were living in this house (in
Lekki), and every morning before my wife goes to work,
she’ll leave home at 5am in the morning to go and stay
with my mum even before we get there ourselves. And
when she closes from work, she’s back with her again.’
‘So I just laugh when I hear people say my mum didn’t
like my wife. It’s my wife and sister that prepare my
mum’s meals in the kitchen.’
‘Now let me shock you: our wives, the three of them are
the closest set of people you can imagine. Even with all
that’s going on. It’s really surprising. Somehow, they
respect themselves and stayed out of the whole drama
and I respect them a lot. And that’s somehow what has
kept us together for this long, otherwise Psquare would
have ended like two or three years back.’
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