The family of late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, aka Mohbad has revealed plans to conduct a separate autopsy and toxicology test as part of efforts to determine the cause of the deceased’s death.
The head of the family’s legal team, Monisola Odumosu, disclosed this in an exclusive chat with PUNCH Online on Thursday.
Odumosu said the family was planning to file an application at the Lagos State High Court to commence the process.
The Director of Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre, Dr Richard Somiari, on Wednesday, told the Coroner’s court sitting in the Ikorodu area of the state that the results of an autopsy conducted on Mohbad would be ready in the next three or four weeks.
Odumosu, however, explained that Mohbad’s family considered the test being carried out by the government too slow, while it also expressed concerns about the process of the autopsy.
He said no expert represented the family at the point the post-mortem was conducted.
He said, “We filed an application at the Coroner’s court on Wednesday to conduct our own autopsy and toxicology test, but the magistrate said he did not have the power to approve that and told us to approach the High Court.
“We are already preparing our document to go to the High Court so that we can ask for permission to organise our own autopsy and toxicology test. We have been planning this before now because we feel the government is too slow.
“They disclosed on a radio programme about three weeks ago that they were just about taking it to the US and that may take about 10 to 12 months and that is too long considering the fact that they had taken a sample from the body almost five months earlier.
“So why do we have to wait for so long a time? Then secondly, when the autopsy was being conducted, representatives of the family should be someone who is well informed on the issue of the autopsy; an expert that will confirm if it was properly done. But they just called anyone.”
Odumosu further disclosed that the family wanted to be sure if what they took from the deceased’s body was what they sent for a toxicology test in the US.
He also confirmed that the separate test would be conducted in the US.
He said, “We are also planning to do it in the United States. Another reason why we took the decision was because for instance, if they poison someone, at a point in time, it will evaporate that no test can discover it.
So we don’t want to wait till when that has happened before we think of doing our test and discover that nothing was found.”
Mohbad died on September 12 at the age of 27, 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 death.
His death also led to the arrest of Naira Marley and controversial Lagos socialite, Balogun Eletu, aka Sam Larry, amongst others.
The body of Mohbad was on September 21, 2023, exhumed for autopsy to unravel the cause of his death.
In the course of its probe, the police declared Primeboy wanted on October 4, 2023, after which he turned himself in two days after.
Meanwhile, Mohbad’s father, in November 2023, had stated that nobody should collect his son’s body for burial without his authorisation.