This particular article was written back in April 2014 (it was
published by Leadership Newspapers) at the beginning of this break up
wahala. And seeing that Psquare are in the news again regarding their
purported break up, i decided to share this article again.
“Over the last week, the media has been abuzz with news of the
separation plans of Africa’s most popular singing duo, Peter and Paul
Okoye, popularly known as ‘P-Square’.
Rumours of fights during rehearsals and ‘shouting matches’ between
the two brothers have been rife for some time now. The alleged fight is
so bad that a blogger revealed that one-half of the group, Peter Okoye,
has moved out of the group’s Squareville mansion. There is also talk of
their long-time manager and elder brother Jude ‘Engees’ Okoye leaving
them. This was confirmed in a ‘coded’ tweet from the producer: “After 10
years, I’m done”.
The brothers are even rumoured to have hired a lawyer to divide all the assets they gathered as P-Square.
Who will benefit if the brothers break up?
Who stands to gain the most?
Will the break-up affect the career of either of them?
What will happen to the P-Square brand in general?
These are some of the issues this article hopes to tackle.
P-Square have been singing professionally for a while now (about 10
years?). Not only are they excellent musicians and dancers, their name
is synonymous with energetic performances, good songs and an all-round
‘swag’ that any group will give anything to emulate. Their songs bring
joy and happiness to countless music lovers the world over and in an era
of band breakups, they have remained firm in their resolve not to
‘break up’. But being human beings, it seems they have [grown] tired of
their alliance, though they have not come out to say they are breaking
up for real.
What makes P-Square unique is the fact that they complement each
other. Paul is considered to be the ‘musician’ while Peter is the dancer
of the duo. This fact is also said to be one of the reasons why Peter
wants out. He apparently wants to sing more. Another reason is the fact
that no one in the Okoye family reportedly likes Peter’s wife Lola,
especially their elder brother Jude. His absence at Peter’s wedding to
Lola did not help to cool speculations.
Both brothers will not benefit as artistes if they break up. Now, I
don’t know if they realise it, but P-Square is a brand, one which fans
all over the world have come to love because of their togetherness. One
cannot imagine either one of them releasing singles as individual
artistes. Even if they want to work independently, they could adopt the
Outkast model.
Outkast, an American rap group made up of André ‘André 3000’ Benjamin
and Antwan ‘Big Boi’ Patton, often perform individually but still
identify themselves as Outkast whenever they perform together. This is a
system that could work for them instead of breaking up finally. Also,
both brothers need to release a statement on this matter as soon as
possible. Though their publicist has denied the story, the duo need to
come clean and tell their fans what is amiss (if anything), as the more
they keep quiet, the more people believe the story.
All said and done, it will not be nice if P-Square break up. They
have become a source of pride for Nigerians all over the world and, like
the Blogger said, I am pleading with friends and family members of the
twins to intervene and not let this ‘travesty’ happen. In the words of
one fan, “P-Square had better stop this break up foolishness and get
back together fast!”
Drop your Comment.
This article was written by ‘
Bisola Alawode. ‘Bisola is a journalist and PR consultant. He can be reached at
abisolaalawode@yahoo.co.uk
