Fact-Check: “Not from us”: Lagos Police denies declaring Naira Marley, Zinoleesky and Samlarry wanted over Mohbad’s death. 

By Samuel Ogunsona 

Claim: 

A TikTok handler posted a picture with a purported Nigeria Police Force logo stating that “The Inspector General of Police declared wanted Azeez Adeshina Fashola popularly known as Naira Marley, Oniyide Azeez Popularly known as Zinoleesky and Samson ErinFolami Balogun Popularly Known as Samlarry“.

Verdict: False 

Full story:

A TikTok handle with the username midolee which has 1911 followers posted a graphic picture with a purported Nigeria police force logo on it, stating that  “The inspector General of police had declared wanted Azeez Adeshina Fashola Popularly Known as Naira Marley, Oniyide Azeez Popularly known as Zinoleesky And Samson Erin Falami Balogun, Popularly Know As Sam Larry” with a pledge of a sum of 5million Naira reward for the whistleblower..

At the time of investigating this post, it had generated 288,800 views, 9000 likes and 922 reactions. 

The headline goes; thus, “ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE WANTED”

The Nigeria police force disclosed here on Saturday, September 16, that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) had directed the Lagos State Commissioner of Police (CP) to investigate and assure justice for the former signee of Naira Marley at Marlian Records, who died on Tuesday, September 12, 2023.

Ileriooluwa Aloba, a Nigerian singer popularly called Mohbad died on September 12, 2023, at 27 under suspicious circumstances. Following his death, many of his angry fans have called out Naira Marley and Sam Larry.

Naira Marley is the owner of Malian Records from whom the late singer had parted ways in the recent past while Samson Erinfolabi Balogun, popularly known as Sam Larry is Naira Marley’s close associate whose video and his men surfaced online before Mohbad’s death, disrupting the late singer’s video shoot with Zlatan Ibile.

Marley and Sam Larry have also been accused of bullying the late singer since leaving the Marlian Records. Following this, many including Nollywood actress, Iyabo Ojo, have called for the arrest of the two men. But is it true the police have declared the two men wanted? We verify.

Verification 

We ran a quick search on the Nigeria Police Force “X” page, and it was discovered that no such news had been posted.

We also ran checks across some reliable news sources in Nigeria to confirm the legitimacy of the information. Our result showed no media outlets had reported it.

“Not From Us”

Our researcher then contacted the Nigeria Police Resource Unit on its hotlines: “08057000001, 08057000002,” to confirm the credibility of the information, unfortunately, there was no response.

We then sent a text message to the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, CP Benjamin Hundeyin on the legitimacy of the information. His response was “Not from us”. See the SMS screenshot below.

Conclusion 

Based on the Lagos Police denial and lack of any reliable evidence, investigations show that the claim that the IG of police had declared wanted the trio of Naira Marley, Zinoleesky and Sam Larry is false.