How Mohbad Appeared At Candlelight Procession
Kunle Awosiyan
The circumstances of his death is still unclear. His passing creates a cloud of darkness across the town but with a ray of light over the music he played.
Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba aka Mohbad may have gone, his spirit has refused to fade, it hovers, seeking justice from the darkest part of his grave.
Events that followed his demise reflected a light, (Imole) that was not ready to die abruptly as revealed on his sick bed where he shed his last tears, sensing that the end was approaching.
From the day the body was interred till when it was exhumed for autopsy, Mohbad’s spirit had continued to roam and shine brighter than it ever did.
During the candlelight procession, the spirit came around to mingle with thousands of his fans who had gathered to mourn his passing.
At the Victoria Island Lagos, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Benin City in Edo State and many other parts of the country, Imole travelled to every location with speed to ask for justice.
The crowd felt his presence. They noticed the rising ovation was not ordinary each time his music rented the air and till now the echoes still reverberate in our ears.
As he repeated a line of his unreleased song, “When I’m here no more, people will love me more,” the crowd wailed in sorrow. Many could not control their emotion, including this writer. I have listened to a few of Mohbad’s songs but never bothered to know his name.
The candlelight procession on the Island threw up emotion, it brought out tears from the teeming youths. They chorused, “justice must be done so that Mohbad’s spirit could rest.”
Even though the sound was deafening, their dirges were solemn and sombre. To them, the talented singer was bullied to death by a few of his colleagues.
Those who pushed Mohbad to death must be brought to book.
With different inscriptions on placards, the music lovers rose and began to march towards Lekki Toll Gate but the officers of the Lagos Police Command would not allow that.
The police must have seen what I saw that the procession was steadily growing beyond a candlelight, it might go riotous and out of control in which public property could be attacked.
Not all in the procession had come to sympathise, it was obvious. There were hundreds who knew nothing about the singer or the significance of the candlelight of that night.
They smoked weeds, flaunted hard drugs and drinks right in the presence of the police, perhaps to provoke the law enforcement agents. While the real organisers of the event were sobre, there were those who came to disrupt the procession.
Mohbad’s death and the subsequent candlelight procession are testimonials of a restless youth whose reactions can easily be triggered by the simplest form of injustice.
It also defines the high level of comportment of men of the Nigeria police at this sensitive period. The police deserve commendation for handling the situation professionally and not allowing it to go violent despite the anger of the highly reactive youths.
Among the celebrity singers at the procession were David Adeleke, (Davido), Folarin Falana, (Falz) and popular Nollywood actress, Iyabo Ojo who later took to her Instagram page to announce her plan for a befitting burial for the deceased singer.
Ojo wrote that she had since contacted Mohbad’s father, Pastor Joseph Aloba over the burial arrangement and that the man had given his approval
The police had deposited the exhumed body of the singer at a public hospital morgue shortly after it had concluded an autopsy on it.