An Ikeja High Court on Wednesday 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.
It was reported that Aloba 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 the Aloba’s application, Justice Taiwo Olatokun in her judgment, 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 alleged lack of 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 artist’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, in their counter-affidavit, the respondents contended that the suspects were not acquitted but merely discharged.
They therefore urged the court to dismiss the application in the interest of justice.
The respondents further argued that at no point did the presiding coroner issued a directive mandating them to inform the inquest of the conclusion of the DPP’s review of the duplicate case file.
“An outcome that was reflected in the legal advice being challenged by the applicant,” the respondents argued.