P-SQUARE & STEPH-NORA OKERE @ War - Samod Biobaku Writes

P-Square & Steph-Nora Okere @ war

The Duo of Peter and Paul Okoye who form the multiple-award winning group, P-Square have over the year carved a niche of brilliance for themselves; especially on the strength of their dancing prowess and ability to churn out hit after hit. However, the brothers appear to be in murky waters at the moment following reports that they might have to contend with allegations of theft for Nollywood actress, Step-Nora Okere. It’s absolutely normal for fans of both parties to begin to wonder where the connection lies between an actress who has no business singing and a singing group that has never carried the acting portfolio. As far apart as their careers have been in the last one decade, the hands of fate appears to have brought both the actress and the singers together but this hasn’t happened on a good note. If truth be told, the situation is far from pleasant as the actress has openly accused P-Square of stealing materials from ‘Jeje;’ a song from her yet-to-be released album. Interestingly, P-Square equally has a song titled ‘Jeje’ on its 14-track album titled ‘Invasion.’ In the song, P-Square featured R n B singer, Waje. Sources revealed that the actress had earlier sought out P-Square’s elder brother, Jude Okoye and given him a sample of her version of the song; with the hope of getting his opinion on her single. We learnt that the actress had done this based on trust and the respect she had for the older Okoye as made manifest in his success with P-Square. No longer able to tolerate the outcome of what Okoye allegedly did, the actress said, “What they did was to remix the chorus of my version to a danceable track. That was not all. They also gave their version the same title, ‘Jeje’ and featured Waje.”
She further lamented how she had sent the song to Okoye via his e-mail in order to have his listen to it and give her his professional opinion on the song. “The next day I called him for his opinion and he said exactly these words ‘Steph-Nora, the song is good but don’t release it like that because it doesn’t meet the standard of the Nigerian market.’ I asked him what should be done and he suggested that I return to the studios and brush it up.
“As a brother and colleague, I took his advice and went back to the studio with my producer, Jiff. I also consulted with my manager and we agreed to improve on the work ahead of the album launch, which I planned for this December. I finally completed the song in May/ June. But to my consternation, two weeks ago, my personal assistant called my attention to P Square’s new album, which included a track entitled Jeje.”
Reacting to the alleged breach of trust, Stingomania boss and entertainment lawyer, Ope Banwo disclosed that he had commenced a move to file a copyright infringement lawsuit against P Square if they fail to respond to the demand letter. “This kind of thing should not be tolerated. P Square is a big group and should not take advantage of up and coming artistes and friends. Steph-Nora trusted them and they stabbed her in the back,” he added.
When Jude Okoye was contacted on phone, he denied stealing or tampering with Steph-Nora’s song and challenged the actress to go to court if she feels otherwise. He further accused the actress of trying to sweep up publicity for her career. As expected, their fans sat on different sides of the fence with a cross section of opiions on the matter. “If what Steph-Nora said is true, then let the court decide,” said Patmeh. Another fan, Patrick said, “If Steph-Nora has the copyright to her work, then she would win the case in court. Only that will determine the true owner of the song. I wish her the best of luck. Still on the matter, a fan clearly noted that this was not the first time P-Square would do such. “P-Square started with ‘copy-copy’ and is trying to ruin its reputation with ‘copy-copy.’ If they are tired of composing better songs, they should venture into something else. Better still, street dancing. Even the track ‘Onyinye’ was copied partly from one of Egbigwe's tracks ‘Ukwu bu ego.’

By Samod Biobaku

sixthsense34@yahoo.com