Supreme Court of Nigeria has ordered singers, Peter and Paul Okoye of the P-Square group and their brother, Jude Okoye to pay a promoter the sum of N25 million.
The decision was reached after the apex court decided a case filed against the by one Mr Patrick Arueze who accused the singers of breach of contract.
Arueze said he invited the music duo to perform at a show in Benin City in 2011 but they failed to show up. He instituted a suit against them in the Edo State High court for a breach of contract.
The Okoye family attempted to reverse the judgment through a motion of appeal dated 3rd of October, 2016 but it was dismissed by the court.
Dissatisfied by the decision, the artistes filed a motion of stay of execution at the Court of Appeal, Benin Division which was dismissed and they later issued a cheque through one of the commercial banks.
However, when the cheque was presented to the bank, the musicians instructed their lawyers to file a motion at the court of appeal Benin Division to stop the payment but the court dismissed the frivolous motion.
As the legal works continued, the Okoyes filed a motion at the Supreme Court seeking to appeal against the ruling of the Court of Appeal which dismissed their motion to stop the payment of the cheque they issued and joined the bank in the motion.
Justice Uwani Musa Abba-Aji agreed with the arguments of Mr. Patrick Arueze represented by a team of lawyers led by E. O. Afolabi, SAN, Dr. Samson Osage, Mrs Nosa Festus Ajayi, and others.
The Supreme Court however struck out the application of the applicants and awarded one million naira as cost 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.”