Joseph Aloba, father of the late singer Ilerioluwa Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad, has filed an appeal against a Lagos High Court ruling that upheld the legal advice issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), which cleared Naira Marley and others of involvement in his son’s death.

In a notice of appeal filed on Monday, 7 July, through his lawyer, Wahab Shittu (SAN), Aloba argued that the trial court erred in law by upholding the Attorney General’s discretion under Section 211(1) of the Constitution as “absolute and non-justiciable,” subject only to political or public accountability.

He contended that the judge, Justice Taiwo Olatokun, failed to consider Section 211(3) of the 1999 Constitution, which mandates that the Attorney General must exercise prosecutorial powers in the public interest, the interest of justice, and to prevent abuse of legal process.

Citing the case of Elias Madukaegbu v. The State, the appellant argued that the DPP’s decision to absolve the suspects, despite an ongoing coroner’s inquest under the Lagos State Coroner’s Law 2015, was not in the public interest and constituted an abuse of process.

Aloba is asking the Court of Appeal to quash the legal advice and issue a writ of certiorari to remove the DPP’s recommendation that cleared Naira Marley, Sam Larry, and others in the murder case.

The Lagos High Court had on 2 July dismissed Aloba’s application, with Justice Olatokun ruling that the Attorney General’s powers on prosecution decisions, exercised via the DPP, could not be questioned.

Aloba, acting on behalf of the Aloba family, had sued the Lagos State Attorney General and the DPP, alleging lack of fair hearing and pre-emption of the coroner’s findings. He claimed that suspects implicated in the coroner’s proceedings had been prematurely cleared.

In their response, the DPP’s office stated that the suspects were discharged, not acquitted, and insisted that no evidence linked Naira Marley, Sam Larry, Prima Boy, or Opere Babatunde to Mohbad’s death.

The appeal is pending, with no date yet fixed for hearing.