The late singer Ilerioluwa Aloba, better known by his stage name Mohbad, stopped attending concerts for six months due to constant beatings, harassment, and bullying from his former label owner, Azeez Fashola, also known as Naira Marley, and his ally, Sam Larry, according to the singer’s parents, who testified before the Coroner’s Inquest on Wednesday. The inquest is investigating the cause of the death of their son.
They added that he told them he was being targeted because he had stated he no longer wanted Tunde Fashola, the brother of Naira Marley, to be his manager.
According to Joseph Aloba, the deceased father, Mohbad was afraid to go out for six months. He stated that he was unsure if the drink he took at the NDLEA would show up at the airport.
He stated that on the day Mohbad was hurt, he saw Naira Marley and his boys and that he had told them it was normal for them to attack him.
The mother stated, “My son told us that there was a show that Naira Marley forced him to attend, which he declined because it was Sam Larry who 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.
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“He always mentioned Naira Marley and Sam 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 claimed that although she had left her kid with his father when he was three years old, she was unaware that he was a musician until she and Mohbad met at Ayobo in 2019.
According to Abosede, Mohbad was her second child, and he had two siblings. She was not permitted to take the other children with her when she and his father parted, with the exception of the youngest kid, who was very little. She said that before his father took him away from her, he didn’t really spend much time with her.
Mohbad’s mother claimed that after Mohbad and his pals visited her, they exchanged phone numbers.
She claimed “I told him that wasn’t the prophecy I received while I was pregnant with him when he told her that he sang. You were supposed to be a pastor, I told him, but he played with me and then left.”
“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.
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“The following day, I got a call again that he had been hospitalised. By the time I got there, they said he had been discharged and he was ok health-wise.
“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’s (Naira Marley’s) house and that the NDLEA came to raid his house,” she said.
The deceased’s wife, Omowunmi Aloba, and younger brother, Adura Aloba, were staying at Naira Marley’s house, according to the witness, and it was the information the deceased heard that caused him to rush down to the house.
She added that the NDLEA had already taken Zinolesky and other people away by the time he arrived at Naira Marley’s home.
“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 okay again after drinking the water.
“I asked him why he was shouting on the Internet, and he said Naira Marley wanted to kill him. I asked him why Naira Marley wanted to kill you, and he said I shouldn’t worry; I cannot understand.
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“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.
She concluded her evidence by stating that her son had cautioned her not to tell the court anything because they would kill her, despite everything she had told them.
The late musician’s father, Joseph Aloba, had earlier testified at the coroner’s inquest in Ikorodu that Mohbad was buried the next day since the mortuary had turned him away.
He claimed to have given the location of Mohbad’s grave.
According to Aloba, Mohbad’s grave was on his (dead) land.
