Cynthia Morgan slams lawsuit against former label boss, Jude Okoye

Just when fans thought she had moved on, the battle between dancehall singer, Cynthia Morgan, and her erstwhile boss, Jude Okoye is far from over as the German Juice singer has now taken legal action against Okoye.

Madrina, formerly known as Cynthia Morgan, took Okoye to court over the accountability of her intellectual property during their time together.

In a court document obtained by The Punch which was filed before the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos; dated November 26, 2020, the singer demanded a full account of income and expenditure from her intellectual property by the defendant, Northside Entertainment Limited, owned by Jude Okoye.

According to the court papers, “It was agreed that the compensation due to the plaintiff would be withheld by the defendant’s company until they were able to reimburse themselves for the expenses incurred in the promotion of the plaintiff.”

This simply means that the singer will not be paid till Okoye recovers all the money he spent on promoting her craft.

However, Cynthia Morgan claimed that since signing a contract with Okoye’s Northside Entertainment on September 25th 2013 he had spent about N8.5million on her.

This includes rent payment of N1.5m; acquisition of a 2012 Range Rover car worth about N6m; and car maintenance which cost N1m, excluding the cost of ten music videos (which the figure was not stated).

She further expressed dissatisfaction about Okoye’s accounts on the profits he claimed to have made from her intellectual property.

She added that “all her requests (for the documents) have been met with vague and ambiguous rebuttals” despite Okoye’s claim that she still owes Northside Entertainment.

However, the Bad Girl Special singer argued that she “achieved unprecedented success as Nigeria’s pioneer female dancehall artist,” which suggests that she has made more than Okoye declared and “disputes the defendant’s assertion that he has not recovered the investment outlay”; that is, how much was spent on the singer.

As such, Madrina is demanding full payments of any amount owed if the court finds Okoye guilty after looking through the account statements during trial.

As seen in the document, the singer further demands:

An order mandating the defendant to furnish the plaintiff with complete accounts including but not limited to all profits, expenses, royalties under any head whatsoever, due and accruing from the contract between parties dated September 25th 2013.

A CONSEQUENTIAL ORDER directing that the Defendant pay to the PLAINTIFF, all outstanding moneys found to be due to her upon taking of the accounts including but not limited to royalties, fees, honoraria of any kind whatsoever from the date of the first infringement till date.

PRE-JUDGEMENT INTEREST at the rate of 20% PER ANNUM from the date of the first infringement.

POST-JUDGEMENT INTERESTS At the rate of the 10% PER ANNUM from the date of the judgement until full liquidation.

Meanwhile, when The Punch contacted Jude Okoye for his response, he refused to comment or grant an interview, he simply said; “I am not granting interview… run anything you want to run, I’m not granting interviews, that’s all.”