Nigeria musical duo P Square announced they were splitting up for good in September last year. However, many fans thought it a PR gimmick as the duo had entertained fans across the continent for more than a decade.

Six months down the road, it now appears that the separation was permanent and the members Peter and Paul Okoye are determined to forge solo careers, despite pleas from their fans to reunite.

The Nigerian twins released numerous hits since breaking into the music scene in 2003. But, in March 2016, cracks began to appear and Peter started raising questions about how the proceeds and royalties from their work were being managed by Paul and their elder brother Jude.

Despite efforts to reunite them, the two eventually parted ways and have pursued solo careers — with Peter going by the name Mr P while Paul calls himself Rudeboy.

On Sunday April 29, Mr P was in Kigali to perform at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Concert, which crowned the governance forum.

Crowd dancing

To his credit, Mr P went the extra mile to get the crowd dancing, together with his two dancers and DJ Switch. She is one of the best female DJs in Nigeria and is signed to Mr P’s record label P Classic Records.

Mr P performed two of his songs Cool it down, which he did with Tanzanian songstress Vanessa Mdee and Look into my eyes. The rest of the songs were P Square songs. Unlike other performers, Mr P did not do a full live performance, but relied on his DJ. He performed some P Square hit songs like Alingo, Shekini, Bank alert, Do Me and others.

The Nigerian star who last visited Kigali in 2015, described Rwanda as a model nation that has transformed itself from the devastation of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Senegalese legendary musician Youssou N’dour was supposed to be the main performer at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Concert, but he cancelled following the recent death of his band member Habib Faye.

Despite N’dour’s abscence, the show held at Kigali Convention Centre was characterised by thrilling performances from artistes like Kenyan group Sauti Sol.

The group performed most of their songs including Live and Die in Afrika, Unconditionally Bae, Kuliko Jana, Shake yo bam bam, Melanin and the crowd favourite Nerea. In the song Nerea, the part where they mention President Paul Kagame received a thunderous applause.

Not enough time

Before Sauti Sol performed, several Rwandan artistes were given an opportunity to perform, though there were murmurs from the crowd that they were not given enough time. For example, rapper Riderman only performed one song and left the stage to the chagrin of the largely youthful crowd.

Only US-based Rwandan singer The Ben was able to get enough time to perform a few of his songs such as Roho yanjye, Ntacyadutanya, Thank you and several more. But, he left the stage in the middle of the hit song Habibi. Charly na Nina and fast rising female act Fiona Mbabazi were also given a few minutes to entertain the crowd.

The show was free for invited guests and was also aired live on Rwanda Television and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation site.

Mo Ibrahim is a billionaire philanthropist of Sudanese origin. He briefly took to the stage to thank the young people who attended the concert. He said they are the future of the continent adding that it was only fitting to end the governance forum with a party.