Court grants Mohbad’s
family permission to conduct independent autopsy- See Result
The
Coroner’s Court sitting in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State has granted the
family permission to conduct an independent autopsy and toxicology test on the
late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, also known as Mohbad.
The family had applied for an independent autopsy citing
suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased.
The court’s decision comes after the previous autopsy conducted
by the Lagos State Government was declared inconclusive.
The Aloba family’s legal team had rejected the results and pushed
for an independent postmortem.
According
to statement obtained by PUNCH Online on Friday and signed by the head of the
family’s legal team, Taiwo Odumosu, the court during its sitting on Wednesday
also ordered that all legal expenses for the conduct and process of the
toxicology test would be borne by the Aloba family.
The statement read in part, “The court has ordered that all
legal expenses for the conduct and process of the toxicology test would be
borne by the Aloba family. The deceased’s father, mother, and wife are also
required to be present during the autopsy.
“The Coroner’s Court chaired by T.A Sonubi, who gave the order
however said that all the legal expenses on the conduct and process of the
toxicology test would be borne by the Aloba family.
“The
application was brought because the late Ilerioluwa Aloba (Mohbad), died in
suspicious circumstances on the 12th day of September 2023 and the applicant
and his family are desirous of getting an independent autopsy and toxicology
test to be done as a second opinion of the prospective autopsy report of the
death of late Ilerioluwa Promise Aloba (Mohbad).
“The court further ordered that the father, mother and the wife
of the deceased must be present at the autopsy.”
Odumosu added that the family welcomed the court’s decision,
stating that they were eager to get to the bottom of the circumstances
surrounding the late singer’s death.
The legal team, at a press conference addressed by a Senior
Advocate of Nigeria, Wahab Shittu and Odumosu on June 17, 2024, had rejected
the autopsy and toxicology test result on behalf of the Aloba family and urged
for an independent toxicology test.
Meanwhile, the application to recall witnesses who had given
testimony earlier was not granted but the application to call new witnesses in
the matter was granted on the basis that the family would provide further
details of the witnesses for witness smmons to be issued by the court.
According to the statement, Mohbad’s wife, Wunmi, also applied
that she should be allowed to bury the late singer, just as the legal team
offered that it depends on how soon the autopsy and the toxicology test could
be conducted.
Mohbad,
a former record label signee of Marlian Music owned by Naira Marley, died on
September 12, 2013 at the age of 27, with the circumstances surrounding his
death sparking controversy on social media.
The Lagos State Police Command however inaugurated a 13-man
special investigation team to probe the death on September 18, 2023.
His death also led to the arrest of Naira Marley and
controversial Lagos socialite, Balogun Eletu, aka Sam Larry, amongst others.
His corpse was exhumed on September 21, 2023, for an autopsy to
unravel the cause of his death.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin,
tweeted in September 2023 that an autopsy had been concluded and the police
were “awaiting results.”
In April, The PUNCH exclusively reported that the toxicology
test carried out to determine the cause of the music star’s death had been
concluded.
The result was sent to the pathologist who carried out the
autopsy to analyse and interpret it.
PUNCH
Metro exclusively reported that the US-based lab refuted the claim by the Lagos
State Government that the toxicology test was conducted at its facility.
The revelation was in response to inquiries made by our
correspondent, who embarked on a fact-finding mission to ascertain the
musician’s cause of death.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga
Omotoso, while responding to inquiries via a live telephone call with Ahmad
Isah, the anchor of an Abuja-based online programme, Brekete Family, sometime
in February 2024, had said the toxicology test was being conducted at the NMS
Labs in Pennsylvania, USA.
However, a pathologist, while testifying before the Coroner’s
Court on May 15, revealed that an autopsy couldn’t determine Mohbad’s cause of
death due to the decomposition of his body.
Responding to PUNCH Metro’s inquiry on May 17, the Client
Services Associate, Forensics Division, NMS Labs, Esther Dede, stated,
“Unfortunately, we do not have a case for that patient.”
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