Supreme court orders PSquare to pay promoter N25 million for breach of contract

• Supreme Court of Nigeria orders P-Square and Jude Okoye to pay N25 million to promoter Mr. Patrick Arueze.
• Case originates from 2011 when P-Square failed to perform at a show in Benin City, leading to a breach of contract lawsuit.
• Despite legal challenges, including appeals and attempts to halt payment, the courts uphold Arueze’s judgment. Supreme Court dismisses applicants’ appeal and awards one million naira as costs.
• Total payment now exceeds N25.8 million with accumulated interest since 2014.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has ruled against popular music duo, Peter and Paul Okoye, famously known as Psquare, along with their brother, Jude Okoye, in a longstanding legal battle with promoter Mr. Patrick Arueze.

The apex court ordered the trio to pay the sum of N25 million to Arueze following a breach of contract.

The case stemmed from an incident in 2011 when Patrick Arueze invited Psquare to perform at a show in Benin City.

However, the music duo failed to honor the agreement, prompting Arueze to file a lawsuit for breach of contract in the Edo State High Court.

Despite attempts by the Okoye family to contest the judgment, including filing a motion of appeal and a motion of stay of execution, their efforts were unsuccessful.

The Court of Appeal, Benin Division, dismissed their appeals, leading them to issue a cheque through a commercial bank to settle the debt.

However, the legal saga continued when the musicians attempted to halt the payment by filing another motion at the Court of Appeal, which was again dismissed.

Unbothered, they sought to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court, joining the bank in their motion.

Justice Uwani Musa Abba-Aji presided over the case and sided with Arueze, represented by a team of lawyers including E. O. Afolabi, SAN, Dr. Samson Osage, and Mrs. Nosa Festus Ajayi.

The Supreme Court ultimately struck out the applicants’ application and awarded one million naira as costs for the application.

Speaking on the judgment, Afolabi said;

“Arueze got judgment against them and they now sent a cheque but when we wanted to cash they cheque, they went to court to stop it, the court refused, they went to the Court of Appeal which also refused their stay of execution, they went to Supreme Court and the lawyer now joined the bank who is not a party to the suit at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court was not happy and awarded N1m cost against P-Square and their lawyer did not appear. With this judgment, the applicants are to pay over Twenty five point eight million naira having accumulated since 2014 with 20 percent interest.”