US lab denies conducting poison test on Mohbad

The Lagos State Government claimed that a toxicology test was performed at the National Medical Services Laboratories in Pennsylvania, USA, to determine the cause of singer Ilerioluwa Aloba's (also known as Mohbad) death. However, the management of the National Medical Services Laboratories has denied this.

The NMS Labs made the assertion in response to questions posed by our correspondent, who started an investigation to determine the musician's cause of death.

Prior to starting the investigation, some worried citizens allegedly demonstrated against a pathologist's assertion that Mohbad's cause of death could not be determined by autopsy because his corpse had decomposed. The pathologist made this claim on Wednesday, May 15, when he appeared before the Coroner's Court.

Sometime in November 2023, O. Akinde, the state government's attorney, informed the Coroner's Court in the state's Ikorodu area that a toxicology test—a component of an autopsy meant to ascertain Mohbad's cause of death—had been carried out in the United States.

Supporting this assertion, the state's Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, stated that the toxicology test was being carried out at the NMS Labs in Pennsylvania, USA, in response to questions during a live phone conversation with Ahmad Isah, the host of the online programme Brekete Family, which is based in Abuja, sometime in February 2024.

The state DNA and Forensic Centre is handling the case; however, they are only providing skeletal services, and their affiliate centres are three.
They won't claim they can't handle an emergency like the one we are currently experiencing, therefore. Thus, during the live broadcast, Omotoso stated, "There are three of them in the US, and the one handling this particular one is the NMS in Pennsylvania, USA."

According to reports, the test result reached Nigeria at some point in April 2024 and was given to a pathologist for analysis.

The pathologist told the coroner's court that because Mohbad's body had decomposed, the autopsy was unable to determine the cause of his death.

Nonetheless, our correspondent independently confirmed the locations of the NMS crime labs at Grand Prairie in Texas, two on Stratford Avenue in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, and the NMS labs at 3701 Welsh Road in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, during the fact-finding mission.

The NMS Labs website also revealed the single email address that these labs had been using for correspondence. Our correspondent then sent an inquiry to find out if a toxicology test was carried out at their facility to determine Mohbad's cause of death.

The query said, in part, "I'm a journalist from Nigeria's Punch Newspaper. I'm working on a story about the passing of Nigerian hip-hop artist Mohbad, also known as Ilerioluwa Aloba.

"After the state of Lagos took an active interest in the case, the state the state Commissioner for Information revealed that the government conducted a toxicology test on the late artiste at your facility. Here is the link where he said so at 32:21 (https://youtu.be/SW59DTJZV3I?si=ty0OaXJSTvfuC4Oz).
Nevertheless, contradictory information has surfaced, raising questions about whether the toxicology test was actually conducted at your facility. I'm independently contacting your facility as a journalist dedicated to factual reporting in order to confirm the veracity of this claim. Getting the facts straight on this will go a long way towards clearing up the confusion surrounding the artist's passing.

In response, on May 17, Esther Dede, a Client Services Associate in the Forensics Division of NMS Laboratories, denied the state government's assertion that Mohbad's toxicology test was carried out at any of their facilities.

Dede stated, "Unfortunately, we do not have a case for that patient."

However, Dede stated, "We would need authorization from the submitting agency to maintain our compliance with HIPAA privacy regulations."

Upon reaching out on Wednesday, the the Commissioner for Information, Omotoso, said that was the name of the lab given to him by the state DNA and Forensic Centre.
The personnel from Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre who collected the sample there informed me of this. We are interacting with representatives of the centre; they are affiliated with three other labs. They can visit any one of the three labs in case of an emergency. When I inquired about which specific one they visited, they said it was that one. Since that is what I was told, I will have to go check once more.

On September 12, 2023, Mohbad passed away at the age of 27, and the circumstances surrounding his passing sparked debates on social media.

Mohbad, a former signee of Naira Marley's Marlian Music record label, 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.
Along with other people, his death resulted in the arrest of Naira Marley and controversial Lagos socialite Balogun Eletu, better known as Sam Larry.

On September 21, 2023, the singer's body was dug up for an autopsy to determine the cause of his passing.