Wunmi, the widow of Ilerioluwa Aloba, the late singer known as Mohbad, has accused Joseph Aloba, her father-in-law, of attempting to erase her from the list of beneficiaries entitled to his music royalties.
In a recent interview on Channels TV, Wunmi revealed that no family member currently has access to Mohbad’s royalties due to an ongoing legal battle stemming from the singer’s acrimonious exit from Marlian Records, the label owned by Naira Marley.
Mohbad passed away on September 12, 2023, under controversial circumstances. At the time of his death, a court case concerning his contract with the record label was already pending.
According to Wunmi, following Mohbad’s demise, his legal team selected the singer’s brother and Liam, his son, as representatives to continue the case. She said she was included only as Liam’s representative because the child is a minor.
“So the thing is that the royalty is not even with anybody right now, because before the demise of my husband, he had issues with his former record label,” she said.
“This issue is personal. I will address it when it is needed. He took them to court, and they were going through the legal battle before his demise.
“So after his demise, they were supposed to be representing him, continuing from where he stopped. So his lawyer chose his brother, his immediate brother, my son, and me.
“He did not choose me, but me representing Liam, because Liam is a minor. So it is not as if he chose me. It is just me representing Liam, who is a minor who cannot speak for himself.
“So the next adjourned date for the case was February 2024. So his lawyer needed somebody to represent him. So that was how my son and his immediate brother’s name got there.”
Wunmi alleged that Mohbad’s dad later approached the court to have her removed as her son’s representative. She claimed Aloba requested to be made a beneficiary of the royalties, arguing that she was never legally married to Mohbad.
She further alleged that Aloba replaced Liam’s name with that of Mohbad’s sister and added other family members as beneficiaries.
“So I think sometimes last year, my father-in-law wrote to probe that he wants to have access to my husband’s royalty, that I am not married to him,” she said.
“Traditionally, legally, I am not married to him. So that was when he started to deny our marriage. But before that, he was always claiming he had married me. There are so many videos.
“They want to have the possession of the royalty. My son’s paternity is still questionable. And I am not married. I should stop using that. So they went to court to scrap my son’s name, my brother-in-law’s name.
“Then he puts my sister-in-law’s name, saying that he is married to another man. He puts his name. He puts other family members that I do not even know. No, they are all our lovers.
“They will be the ones who go ahead with it. So we are still on it, actually. The next adjournment for the royalty case is May 14th.
“But he wants me and my son out of the way. So that is the reason for all of this whole saga is myself and Liam. Just wanted out of the way.”
