Paul Okoye: How Psquare paid the price of family issues

Paul Okoye, the Nigerian singer better known as Rudeboy, says family-related issues led to Psquare’s breakup in 2017 — and not music as believed in some quarters.

Paul and Peter Okoye, his twin brother, parted ways in 2017. The split was said to have followed a disagreement on the role of Jude Okoye, their older brother, as manager.

But in November 2021, the pair ended their nearly five-year feud to the delight of their numerous fans.

In an interview with Joey Akan, the music journalist, Paul opened up on his controversial split from Peter.

The singer said after the split, he kept mum about the controversy that ensued because he knew it was a family-related issue, and “I respect family so much.”

He lamented how “Psquare was just the sacrifice” in the highly-publicised feud.

“I kept silent. I never said anything. I never said anything, because I knew what the problems were. It was a family issue, and it turned out that Psquare had to pay for it. Psquare was just the sacrifice,” he said.

“It was a family issue, it had nothing to do with music. And because I respect family so much, I owe nobody any explanation.”

The singer also detailed how the split initially affected his music.

“For someone like me, during the period when I was in the group, I didn’t handle my social media myself. I wasn’t into the social media thing, because to me, it was more like a division,” he added.

“My own was just to go into the studio, record the songs and get them out, then ask what next. We talk about the video. Next? So, how do we do the next song? I was more like inside the box. My job was to go to the studio and record the song, write to the producer and all.

“That was what I did. So, when I became solo, I needed to understand and study the music industry, because all I knew was to go to the studio and record. Do you expect me to ask myself what was next? Because I never knew what was next then. That’s why it took me that time. I needed to study marketing, and how to relate with the media because then, I wasn’t a spokesman in the group.”