A High Court sitting in Ikeja has dismissed an application filed by Mr Joseph Aloba, father of the late singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba (popularly known as Mohbad).
Aloba had sought to quash the legal advice that exonerated music label owner Azeez Fashola (alias Naira Marley) and promoter Samson Balogun (alias Sam Larry) from any involvement in Mohbad’s death.
Mohbad’s father had filed the application through his lead counsel, Dr Wahab Shittu (SAN), on behalf of the family, with the Attorney General of Lagos State and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) listed as respondents.
While dismissing Aloba’s application, the presiding judge, Justice Taiwo Olatokun, held that the powers of the attorney general of Lagos state to prosecute or not to prosecute were absolute and could not be questioned.
Shittu, in his application, sought the court to quash the DPP’s legal advice, citing an alleged lack of a fair hearing.
He had argued that the DPP’s legal advice, which exonerated Marley and Larry, pre-empted the outcome of the coroner’s inquest, which is yet to conclude its investigation into the cause of the artiste’s death.
According to him, vital suspects mentioned and implicated during the coroner’s proceedings were prematurely freed through the DPP’s legal advice.
However, the respondents argued in their counter-affidavit that the accused were simply released rather than acquitted.
They consequently urged the court to reject the application, In the interest of fairness.
The respondents further contended that the presiding coroner never gave them instructions to notify the inquest of the DPP’s evaluation of the duplicate case file.
The respondents contended, “an outcome that was reflected in the legal advice being challenged by the applicant.”
