After months of silence, music executive Naira Marley has opened up about the death of his former artist Mohbad, sharing his account of what happened and addressing the accusations that followed.
The Marlian Records boss revealed he was outside Nigeria when he first heard the devastating news, describing how shocked and heartbroken he felt when he learned about the young singer’s passing.
Naira Marley recalled the moment someone told him Mohbad had died. His initial reaction was complete disbelief.
“Someone called and said Mohbad was dead, and I immediately said ‘That’s not true.
He’s probably just trying to get attention again,'” he explained. “I didn’t believe it until I started seeing the posts all over social media.”
Even when blogs began reporting that Mohbad had died from an ear infection, Naira Marley thought it might be fake news. But then something unexpected happened – people started pointing fingers at him.
What should have been a time for grieving quickly turned into a nightmare for Naira Marley. Instead of being able to mourn his former artist, he found himself defending against serious accusations.
“I couldn’t even properly mourn him,” he said, the pain evident in his voice. “Every time I tried to grieve, I’d see messages saying I killed him.
That hurt so much, especially because I wasn’t even in the country when it happened.”
He emphasized that he has concrete proof of his whereabouts, including passport stamps and videos, showing he was abroad when Mohbad passed away.
At the time, he and his team were actually preparing to shoot a music video in Amsterdam, but had to cancel everything when the tragedy occurred.
Much of the public outrage against Naira Marley stemmed from old videos that suddenly went viral after Mohbad’s death.
These clips, some involving music promoter Sam Larry, painted a troubling picture – but according to Naira Marley, they were taken completely out of context.
“People started sharing old footage from different times – some from issues with the NDLEA, others from a fight Mohbad had with his manager back in 2022,” he explained. “But none of that had anything to do with how he died.”
He specifically addressed the controversial video featuring Sam Larry, clarifying that it wasn’t even filmed during the time period people assumed.
“Sam Larry wasn’t even in Nigeria then,” Naira Marley said. “From what he told me, he had only gone to ask Mohbad about some money he owed, and there was no physical contact.”
Looking back, Naira Marley believes there was a deliberate campaign to make him look guilty. The timing of when these old videos surfaced seemed too convenient to be coincidental.
“I could see that someone was paying blogs to push a certain story,” he said. “The public believed it because the videos looked bad without context. But I had nothing to do with his death, and I wasn’t even around when it happened.”
