The parents of the late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad, on Wednesday, told the Coroner’s Inquest that is looking into the cause of death of their son that he stopped going to shows for six months because of fear of the constant beating, harassment and bullying he got from his former label owner, Azeez Fashola, also better known as Naira Marley and his ally, Sammy Larry.
They also claimed he told them that he was being attacked because he said he didn’t want Naira Marley’s brother, Tunde Fashola, to be his manager anymore.
The father of the late singer, Joseph Aloba, said, “Mohbad was scared of going out for six months. He said he did not know if the substance he drank at the NDLEA will appear at the airport.”
He said the day Mohbad was inflicted with injury, he saw Naira Marley and his boys and claimed that Mohbad said it was customary for them to attack him.
On her own part, the mother said, “My son told us that there was a show that Naira Marley forced him to attend which he declined because it was Sammy Larry that was the organiser of that show.
“Whenever Mohbad was with me, he was always full of fear; he said it was Naira Marley who collected all the money for the shows he performed because the three-year contract that he signed with him had not elapsed.
“He always mentioned Naira Marley and Sammy Larry, and he was always shaking. I begged him several times to allow me to speak with them, but he refused, saying he didn’t want them to kill me.
“The last time he travelled for a show, after he came back, he mentioned to me that Naira Marley came to attack him, he reported the case to the police but I don’t know if the police invited Naira Marley,” the mother said.
She said she didn’t know that her son was a musician until she and Mohbad reconnected in 2019 at Ayobo after she had left him with his father when he was three years old.
Abosede said Mohbad was her second child and that he had two other siblings but when she and his father separated, she was not allowed to take the children with her except the last one because he was very young. She claimed he didn’t even stay long with her before the father took him away from her.
Mohbad’s mother said it was her younger sister who brought Mohbad and his friends to visit her and then they exchanged numbers.
She said when he told her that he sang, I told him that wasn’t the prophecy I got when I was pregnant with him. “You were supposed to be a pastor, I told him but he played with me and then left,” he recalled.
“After he left that night, somebody came to me and showed me a video that was circulating online that they were beating him and he was crying and said that Naira Marley wanted to kill him.
‘The following day, I got a call again that the deceased had been hospitalised. By the time I got there, they said he had been discharged and he was ok healthwise.
“Mohbad told me on the third day that he was inside the studio when he got a call that something was happening at Azeez Fashola (Naira Marley) house that the NDLEA came to raid his house,” she said.
The witness also stated that it was the information that the deceased heard that made him rush down to Naira Marley’s house because Zinoleesky, the deceased’s younger brother, Adutra Aloba, and the deceased’s wife, Omowunmi Aloba, were staying at Naira Marley’s house.
She also explained that by the time the deceased got to Naira Marley’s house, the NDLEA had taken Zinolesky and others away.
“The deceased followed the NDLEA to their office and he asked why they took his friends away he became thirsty due to the argument between him and the NDLEA, then he was given water, he later discovered that he was not feeling ok again after drinking the water.
“I asked him why he was shouting on the Internet, he said Naira Marley wanted to kill him. I asked him why does Naira Marley want to kill you, he said I shouldn’t worry, that I cannot understand.
“I and one Iya Lode went to Naira Marley’s house and on seeing Naira Marley, he explained that the deceased spoiled his name. I and his father apologised to him, but he still wrote a statement that he (Naira Marley) wanted to kill him.
“I was at the deceased’s house on Saturday when the deceased told me that he had a show on Sunday, September 10, 2023, at Ikorodu but the following Tuesday I received a call that the deceased was dead,” she said.
At the conclusion of her testimony, she said that for all the things she told the court, her son had warned her not to say it because they would kill her.
Earlier, the father of the late singer, Joseph Aloba, told the coroner’s inquest at Ikorodu that the reason they buried Mohbad the next day was that the mortuary rejected him.
He said that he was the one who pointed out where Mohbad was buried.
Aloba said the place where Mohbad was buried was his (deceased) land.
He also told the coroner that on the day his son died, when he got to the house he went straight upstairs to his room where he saw blood-soaked clothes before he was told that the deceased was in the living room.
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
