Nigeria: Mohbad and the Autopsy Question

13 September 2023

Following the sudden death of Nigerian musician, Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad, on Tuesday, tongues have continued to wag over the actual cause of his death.

The reasons were not farfetched. It's a public knowledge that late Mohbad had a running battle with his former record label owner, Naira Maley, leading to allegation of physical assault on one hand, while on the other hand, he was said to have contemplated suicide, according to a close friend and fellow singer Bella Shmurda.

However, a medical doctor has emphasised the significance of conducting autopsy examinations in order to clear doubts about similar circumstances.

An autopsy is a medical examination of a deceased person's body to determine the cause of death, the extent of any injuries or diseases, and other relevant information for legal or medical purposes.

It could be recalled that the late singer had previously expressed that if anything were to happen to him, his former record label boss, Naira Marley, should be held accountable.

Since the announcement of Mohbad's death on Tuesday, individuals on social media platforms shared posts advocating for an autopsy to be performed to determine the cause of the young artist's death.

Meanwhile, Dr. Olufunmilayo took to his X page (formerly twitter) emphasising that conducting an autopsy was crucial to prevent the recurrence of similar patterns of death within a family.

Olufunmilayo said an autopsy helps to check whether the problem runs in the deceased's lineage. The doctor said this helps to give an insight into how to prevent such death.

He said: "An autopsy will not bring back the dead Of course it will not.Don't be an idiot.

"What an autopsy however does is that it provides answers to burning questions like "what exactly killed this person?" "Was this person murdered?" "Could it be an undiagnosed unknown medical condition that killed this person?" "How did this person die"? (especially if it is someone who is young, fit and healthy).

"An autopsy will answer all of these kinds of questions and a lot more. It will help clarify if it was a murder, a medical condition, an unintentional death or whatever it is that killed that person."

He also added that "Sometimes a person may die from a sudden heart attack due to an unknown underlying and undiagnosed heart condition they always had but never knew about. And sadly, at times, the first sign of some heart problems is a heart attack and sudden death.

"Now if you do an autopsy on that corpse, it will confirm and clarify the cause of death. If it is an inheritable heart condition, other family members can see a heart specialist and run medical tests and full diagnostic checks to prevent the same fate befalling someone else.

"An autopsy is mandated and encouraged, especially in sudden unexpected deaths in children and young people."

He further enlightened the public that many deaths were blamed on spiritual attacks while, in the real sense, it is a result of failure to do an autopsy on previous deceased persons who are of the same lineage.

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