In the wake of the murder of his former signee, singer Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba, also known as Mohbad, Nigerian rapper Azeez Fashola, better known by his stage name Naira Marley, has called on the Lagos State Police Command to step up their investigation.
In a video published on his YouTube account on Tuesday, he made the call while giving his version of events surrounding his suspected role in Mohbad’s death.
Naira Marley insisted that he was innocent of any role in the singer’s passing, but he asked the police to re-arrest him, his associate Samson Balogun, also known as Samlarry, and everyone else who was suspected of being involved in Mohbad’s demise.
This time he insisted that the case be assigned to a reliable officer.
He stated, “I came back to Nigeria to support the police because I can see fingers pointing our ways. So I had to come back so that they can actually have nothing to do with it and check whoever so that he can get justice.
“I was in Panti for two months. After I came out from Panti, I was fighting for my passport, they held my passport. I was like, it’s okay to question me [over Mohbad’s death], but there’s no reason to detain me. I haven’t seen him for over a year. But it’s okay. There was a conspiracy and gang-up to keep me there. As you can see, the group chat got leaked, they even mentioned the name of the officer in charge of the case in Panti. They were also talking about judge.
“If you ask me, I will tell the Police to arrest everybody again. Put an officer we can trust in charge,” he added.
Naira Marley also disclosed that he and Mohbad’s attorney have reached an agreement for Naira to distribute his profits to the family member the court designates to manage his estate.
Recall that Mohbad passed away on September 12, 2023, under contentious circumstances.
Samlarry and Naira Marley, the former head of his record label, were implicated in his demise. The two were held for two months in 2023 at the State Criminal Investigation Department in Panti in response to the accusations, but they were later released after fulfilling their bail requirements.
In connection with his death, Mohbad’s boyhood friend Owodunni Ibrahim, commonly known as Prime Boy, was also taken into custody but was later released on bail.
The auxiliary nurse who allegedly gave Mohbad the shot that killed him, Feyisayo Ogedengbe, was also taken into custody.
The Lagos State Coroner’s Court stated that it was impossible to establish a conclusive cause of death due to Mohbad’s body’s degraded state, based on the testimony of two independent pathologists who performed separate examinations.
“The death is not linked to any evidence of foul play, but to medical negligence,” emphasized Magistrate C.A. Shotobi.
The court mandated that Feyisayo Ogedengbe, the auxiliary nurse, be prosecuted by the Director of Public Prosecutions, or DPP.
