Founder of Agidigbo 88.7 FM, Oriyomi Hamzat, has apologised to singer Naira Marley, two years after banning his songs from the radio station over suspicions surrounding the death of his former signee Mohbad.
Hamzat played Marley’s hit track ‘Tesumole’ live on air to symbolically lift the ban and begged the Marlian Music boss for forgiveness.
“I am very sorry for all my provocative statements or words to Naira Marley,” he said. “I never said he committed murder or did anything illegal.”
Hamzat also prayed for “God’s protection” over Marley and “peace for Mohbad’s family.”
The development comes amidst Naira Marley’s newly released video on YouTube where he addressed lingering allegations that he bullied or killed Mohbad, who died on September 12, 2023, at 27.
“I’m doing this video today for my whole Marlians around the world, the ones that stood by me when it was peak, especially the ones that are like ‘Naira Marley might have bullied him, but he didn’t kill him.’ No, I didn’t bully him, and I didn’t kill him,” Marley said.
“Even after the NDLEA issue, the attempted suicide, the fight with his former manager, the law suite to the distributor, the termination letter, the situation with him and Sam Larry, even after all of this, Mohbad still told people he wanted to come and apologise, but I didn’t know he was gonna die. If I knew, I would have probably let him come, but it was just too much for me at that point,” he added.
Earlier in February, a Magistrate’s Court in Yaba cleared Naira, promoter Sam Larry, Primeboy and Mohbad’s former manager Babatunde Opere of complicity in the singer’s death. A coroner’s inquest in Ikorodu, however, indicted auxiliary nurse Feyisayo Ogedengbe for professional negligence, saying she gave Mohbad an injection without a doctor’s prescription.
In the same video, Naira also spoke on Mohbad’s royalties, saying the late singer withdrew $72,000 from a DSP partner in December 2022, which forced the label to temporarily withhold his payments. He insisted the royalties were properly accounted for and will be disbursed to Mohbad’s legal beneficiaries.
Naira also disclosed that the last time he saw Mohbad was on October 4, 2022, during a dispute between the late singer and his former manager, Seyi Awonuga. He also revealed that Mohbad admitted in June 2020 to using a drug called Ice, attributing it to stress.
Despite the controversies, the singer stressed: “I never sent anybody to bully him.”
