FACT CHECK: How true is the claim that Naira Marley and Sam Larry have been arrested?

A recent post making the rounds on social media has claimed that popular music artist, Naira Marley, and music promoter, Samson Balogun better known as Sam Larry, were arrested by the police following the death of Mohbad, the fast-rising musician.

“Naira Marley and Sam Larry has been arrested !! They will be questioned over the viral videos of assault against demised singer Mohbad,” reads the post by @Mrklassiq_.

So far, the post has gathered 3.3M views, 30.4K likes and 2,622 reposts on X – formerly known as Twitter.

Apart from X, a similar claim was also seen on Facebook, where it was said that Naira Marley and Sam Larry were arrested by the police.

MOHBAD

Mohbad is a former artiste of Marlian Records, which is owned by Naira Marley. Mohbad died on September 12 at the age of 27 and was buried the next day. 

The circumstance surrounding the musician’s death has continued to spark controversies on social media and widely among concerned Nigerians and music fans.

On October 5 2022, the late singer raised alarm on X over what he described as a “physical assault” on him by Marlian Records.

“Just because I want to change my manager which is their brother, see what they did to me at Marlian House,” he tweeted with a video showing bloody bruises on his body.

He further asked for help in the thread saying, “I am dying inside”.

It was alleged that the singer was repeatedly intimidated and assaulted at different times by members of the Marlian Records label until his death.

Meanwhile, a petition dated June 27 2023, submitted to the police has surfaced online, wherein Mohbad reported a case of alleged threat to life, malicious damage, assault, and oppression against him by Sam Larry. The petition was addressed to the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Annex, Alagbon in Lagos.

While Sam Larry has since deactivated his Instagram account following the torrents of cyber attacks after the death of Mohbad, Naira Marley continues to lose followers on social media due to massive unfollowing by disgruntled music fans.

NAIRA MARLEY AND SAM LARRY HAVE NOT BEEN ARRESTED

Checks by TheCable show that the police is yet to arrest either Naira Marley or Sam Larry for questioning over the demise of the late singer.

“The report is false; it is a lie; no one has been arrested,” Oluniyi Ogundeyi, the spokesperson for the Lagos annex of the FCID, said.

Meanwhile, TheCable had reported that the Nigerian police had commenced investigations into the death of the singer whose cause of death is still unknown. 

On Monday, 18th September 2023, a 13-man panel was set up to look into the matter, it was resolved that his corpse would be exhumed for autopsy if need be.

VERDICT

The claim that Naira Marley and Sam Larry have been arrested by Nigerian police is false. Investigations are still ongoing and no arrest has been made so far.