- By Halimah Olamide
Amidst insinuations of culpability, the Nigeria’s anti-drug agency washes its hands off arrest of singer Mohbad saying that substance he alleged he was forced to drink could not have been at the NDLEA
The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has said that its operatives never arrested late singer, Oladimeji IleriOluwa Aloba popularly called Mohbad.
Femi Babafemi, Head of Media and Advocacy of the agency, in an exclusive interview with the NPO Reports, said contrary to the insinuations out there, at no time was the singer arrested by the agency.
Expressing concerns about the manner the agency is being dragged into the saga, Babafemi said he has seen a number of online publications linking the NDLEA to what happened to the singer on Tuesday.
The singer had died on Tuesday in circumstances yet to be determined. There have been calls on the police to unravel the circumstances leading to the death of the 27 years old artiste.
“I am telling you that Mohbad was never arrested by our operatives,” Babafemi said
He said a particular online blog has been at the forefront of the campaigns to link the agency with the artiste’s death regretting that facts are not sacred to many online publications.
There have been videos where the singer said he was given a substance contained in a table water bottle to drink during a particular arrest saying of all those arrested, he was the only one given the substance to drink.
He said since then, his “life had been fucked up.”
Many have concluded that the arrest Mohbad made reference to in the video was when anti-drugs agents stormed his residence in Lekki in 2022
But in a television interview granted by Babafemi in the wake of the arrest at the time, he had expressed doubt if Mohbad was among those arrested.
He listed and confirmed those arrested to include Owoeye Michael, Subomi, Abimbola, Dominiga, Ibrahim Alao, adding that except Mohbad had another name, he was not on the list given to him by the commander who led the operation.
At the time, Babafemi said some drugs were found in possession of those arrested in a one-room apartment.
The death of Mohbad has sparked outrage with many linking it to his former record label boss, Azeez Fashola popularly called Naira Marley and one of his allies, Sam Larry.
On Saturday, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, was quoted as ordering the Lagos state police command to step in and investigate the matter.
The police said a panel has been set up to probe the death.
A petition submitted to the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Force CID, Alagbon, and dated June 27, was said to have been ignored.
In the petition, Mohbad had alleged attacks by Sam Larry insinuating in the process that the attacks were sponsored by his estranged boss, Naira Marley.