Authorities of the US National Medical Service Laboratories (NMS) in Pennsylvania have denied conducting toxicity tests on the late Nigerian singer, Ilerioluwa Promise Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad, as claimed by the Lagos State government.
This revelation by NMS was in response to a pathologist’s claim on May 15 that an autopsy on Mohbad’s decomposed corpse could not ascertain the cause of his death.
LEADERSHIP recalls African Television and the African Foundation for Justice offering N50 million reward to anyone with relevant information about the killers of the 27-year-old Mohbad who died under mysterious circumstances, sparking nationwide controversy and protests.
The Client Services Associate, Forensic Divisions of NMS, Esther Dede, disclosed that the late singer’s toxicity test was not conducted anywhere around the lab’s premises.
“Unfortunately, we do not have a case for that patient,” Dede said.
Dede, however, noted, “To maintain our compliance with HIPAA privacy regulations, we would need authorisation from the submitting agency.”
The Lagos state Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotoso, when contacted on Wednesday, maintained that NMS Lab was the name of the facility submitted by the state’s DNA and Forensic Centre for Mohbad’s autopsy.
“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,” he said.
LEADERSHIP reported Mohbad’s lawyer, Wahab Shittu assuring that the outcome of the singer’s autopsy test as reported by the pathology would not be the end.
“The pathologist mentioned the body’s decomposition as a major reason the cause of death was unascertained. When you say the cause of death cannot be ascertained, it is suspicious. It is not clear.
“Until those questions are asked, you cannot say this is the outcome of the report. I employ everybody to have an open mind until we look at all the possibilities,” Shittu concluded.
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