The National Medical Services Laboratories (NMS Labs) in Pennsylvania, United States, has denied claims made by the Lagos State Government regarding the toxicology test of the late Nigerian singer, Ilerioluwa Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad.
The denial came after inquiries by Punch Newspaper, which launched a fact-finding mission to determine the cause of the musician’s death.
Earlier allegations suggested that NMS Labs was responsible for carrying out a toxicology test to uncover the factors leading to Mohbad’s untimely demise.
This claim was part of the proceedings at the Coroner’s Court in Ikorodu, Lagos, where the state government’s counsel, O. Akinde, indicated in November 2023 that the analysis was conducted in the United States as part of an autopsy process.
This assertion was further supported by the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, during a live interview in February 2024.
However, the situation took a turn when NMS Labs revealed to Punch that no such test had been performed at their facility, contradicting the statements made by Lagos State officials.
The disclosure came amidst public concern following a statement by a pathologist at the Coroner’s Court, who reported that an autopsy could not determine Mohbad’s cause of death due to the decomposed state of the body.
Omotoso said, “The matter is being handled by the state DNA and Forensic Centre, but they are doing skeletal services, and they have affiliate centres which are three.
“So, if there is an emergency like this one that we have, they will not say they cannot handle it. So, there are three of them in the US and the one handling this particular one is the NMS in Pennsylvania, USA.”
The result of the test reportedly arrived in Nigeria sometime in April 2024 and was passed on to a pathologist for interpretation.
Appearing before the coroner’s court, the pathologist disclosed that the autopsy could not ascertain the cause of Mohbad’s death because the corpse had decomposed.
However, during the fact-finding mission, Punch verified the location of the NMS Labs on 3701 Welsh Road Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, and that of two NMS crime labs on Stratford Avenue, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, and another at Grand Prairie in Texas.
The single e-mail address that these labs had been using for correspondence was also discovered on the NMS Labs’ website and the platform sent an inquiry to confirm if a toxicology test to ascertain Mohbad’s death was conducted at their facility.
The inquiry read in part, “I am a journalist from Punch Newspaper in Nigeria, currently working on a story involving the death of Nigerian hip-hop artiste, Ilerioluwa Aloba, aka Mohbad.
“Following the Lagos State Government’s active interest in the case, 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).
“However, conflicting reports have emerged, casting doubt on whether or not the toxicology test indeed took place at your facility. As a journalist committed to factual reporting, I am independently reaching out to your facility to verify the authenticity of this claim. Clarification on this matter will contribute significantly to resolving the discrepancies surrounding the artist’s demise.”
The Client Services Associate, Forensics Division, NMS Labs, Esther Dede, in her response, refuted the claim by the state government that Mohbad’s toxicology test was conducted at any of their laboratories.
Dede said, “Unfortunately, we do not have a case for that patient.”
Dede, however, noted, “To maintain our compliance with HIPAA privacy regulations, we would need authorisation from the submitting agency.”
When contacted on Wednesday, the Commissioner for Information, Omotoso, said that was the name of the lab given to him by the state DNA and Forensic Centre.
He said, “This was what I was told by the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre officials who took the sample there. We are dealing with the officials of the centre, they have three other labs that they have affiliations with. If they have an emergency, they can go to any of the three labs. I asked which particular one did they go to and they answered it was that one. That means I will have to go and check again because that was what I was told.”
