Mohbad’s family conducts fresh autopsy, awaits result

The family of the late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba aka Mohbad, has conducted a fresh autopsy seeking to determine the cause of his death.

PUNCH Metro reported that the Magistrate of the Coroner Court sitting in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State, T.A. Shotobi, on June 26, granted an order to the father of the deceased, Mr. Joseph Aloba, to engage a licensed and certified pathologist for a completely independent autopsy on the late singer.

The court also ordered that the applicant, Aloba, should bear all costs associated with the examination, evaluation, and autopsy.

A member of the family’s legal team, Monisola Odumosu, in a statement on Tuesday, said the autopsy was conducted on Friday, July 19 and Saturday, July 20.

Odumosu noted that the family would proceed to carry out toxicology and histology tests on the necessary samples already obtained if the post-mortem procedure failed to reveal the cause of death.

“The second autopsy as requested by the Aloba family and ordered by the Magistrate of the Coroner Court, Ms. T.A. Shotobi, was conducted on Friday, July 19 and Saturday, July 20, 2024. This autopsy is a two-part exercise, with the first part now completed.

“If the cause of death cannot be determined from this initial examination, the second part will proceed, involving a toxicology and histology test on the necessary samples already obtained,” the statement read in part.

The legal team further disclosed that the procedure was witnessed by Mohbad’s father and two separate pathologists appointed by him and Mohbad’s wife, Wunmi.

“This comprehensive procedure, conducted last Friday, was witnessed only by Mr. Joseph Aloba, the forensic pathologist appointed by Mr. Joseph Aloba and his team, legal representatives of both Mr. Joseph Aloba and a pathologist appointed by Wunmi Aloba to observe the procedure,” the statement added.

Mohbad died at the age of 27, on September 12, 2023, with circumstances surrounding his death sparking controversies on social media.

Being a former record label signee of Marlian Music owned by Naira Marley, Mohbad left the label in February 2022. The Lagos State Police Command had on September 18, 2023, inaugurated a 13-man special investigation team to probe the singer’s death.

His death also led to the arrest of Naira Marley and controversial Lagos socialite, Balogun Eletu, also known as Sam Larry, amongst others.

The singer’s body was on September 21, 2023, exhumed for autopsy to unravel the cause of his death.

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.

Following the disclosure, 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.

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.”