Nigerian singer and Marlian Records boss, Azeez Fashola, better known as Naira Marley, has revealed that he once intervened to prevent late rapper Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba (Mohbad) from diverting his earnings into the bank account of his girlfriend’s mother.

Naira Marley made the disclosure during a YouTube livestream on Tuesday night, where he recounted details of his business and personal relationship with the late artiste.

According to the Marlian Records boss, Mohbad repeatedly sent him a bank account belonging to one “Adesanya Justina Olajumoke” in late 2020, insisting that his earnings should be deposited there. The account, Naira Marley said, was not Mohbad’s, but that of his girlfriend Wunmi’s mother.

“On December 21, 2020, Mohbad sent me an account with the name: Adesanya Justina Olajumoke. He said that was his new account where money should be paid into. I was like, this is not your account but anyway, I paid his money there.

“On January 25, 2021, he sent me that same Olajumoke account and said it was his mum’s account. But I knew that wasn’t his mum’s name. It was Wunmi’s mother’s account. His mother’s name is Abosede. That was when I called him over and told him I wasn’t comfortable sending money there again,” Naira Marley narrated.

He said he subsequently advised the late singer to open a personal account, a step Mohbad eventually took in July 2021.

The disclosure comes amid lingering controversies over Mohbad’s death in September 2023, which sparked nationwide outrage and calls for justice.

Before his demise, the rapper had once hinted in a viral video that if anything happened to him, his girlfriend Wunmi should be held responsible.

A coroner’s inquest in Lagos later found that Mohbad died from complications arising from a wrong injection administered by an unregistered nurse. Testimonies during the inquest established that Wunmi and a friend, Spending, had taken him to the nurse after he fell ill from an injury.

Naira Marley, who has consistently denied allegations of involvement in the artiste’s death, used Tuesday’s livestream to highlight both the successes and difficulties of their time together under Marlian Records.

He recalled Mohbad’s early days at the label, his struggles with substance abuse, his 2022 altercation with NDLEA operatives, and the subsequent breakdown in relationships that strained the singer’s career and personal life.

“We had a smooth contract, everything was 50-50. I never cheated him. Mohbad had money. He even bought his first Lexus in 2021. But there were issues, especially after the NDLEA incident in 2022, when he went live under duress and accused me and others of endangering him,” Naira Marley recounted.

The Marlian boss further revealed that Mohbad’s relationship with his girlfriend, Wunmi, often raised concerns within the late singer’s circle, citing instances where she was the last person with him during a panic attack episode in 2022.

Despite these controversies, Naira Marley maintained that he supported Mohbad financially and emotionally until his exit from the label in 2022.