Remember the SHOCKING story of Pastor Chika Mbonu of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) City of David Chapel, Victoria Island, Lagos, whose DNA showed to be the biological father of Mr and Mrs Henry Bassey’s two children
Emmanuel (8) and Tahila (6), few years ago?
After the story went viral and sent shock waves down society - many Nigerian men have resorted to taking DNA tests to confirm their children are actually theirs.
In that last 15 years or less, several DNA centres have sprung up.Mr Abiodun Salami, the operator of DNA Centre, Ikeja,spoke to Encomium weekly about the necessity of DNA testing because according to him, most first born in Nigeria are bastards! Hmmmmm
Below are excepts from his interview.
What are the reasons for DNA?
There are many reasons.Number one, in Nigeria it’s actually the issue of infidelity in marriage. I am suspecting my wife. This child does not look like me. I have been
hearing stories when my wife was
pregnant.That is the number one reason most men do the DNA test especially when there is lack of trust in the marriage, when the husband suspects his wife of having extra marital affairs.There could be medical reasons too.We’ve seen children that have different genotypes from their fathers. For example, I am AA
and my wife is AA too.If we have a child that is AS, I will certainly demand a DNA test to be conducted.
Another reason is immigration issue.
Probably you just won an American visa lottery,The Embassy will tell you to go for DNA test to be sure the children are actually yours.Those are the basic reasons why people do DNA test.Has there ever been a situation where a father comes with his four children and none of them belongs to him biologically?Of course.We’ve seen cases, week in,
week out. We’ve seen cases of somebody bringing all his children and none of them
is his own biologically. We’ve seen cases whereby somebody brings six children and four are not his.Most times it happens to first borns. Most
times all the first borns are not biologically owned by their fathers. For example, if somebody brings four children and he discovered that two or three are not his own, most times the first borns are always
included. What we always advice men is that the earlier the better. From my years of experience, we have seen a lot. It’s crazy. Week in week out we counsel men that discovered that their so called
children are not theirs biologically.
Does your statistics confirm the
insinuations that Nigerian women are very promiscuous?
Yes, it exposes infidelity in marriage. It is both ways. We should not put the blame on the women alone. It’s both ways.We’ve seen cases of men denying pregnancies and when they come, we discover that they are the father of the child.It is both ways.But because we are Africans, we always blame the women. Most times men deny the paternity of their children. Paternity test has exposed infidelity both ways, women and the men.
*Weird Case
Let me share a case with you. There was a time we did a paternity test for a man and the result came.It showed that the man was not the father. But the woman swore with everything available that since she got married, she had never slept with another
man.I now suggested that we do another test but with the sample of the mother. We did
it and when the result came, we
discovered that the mother too was not the mother of the child.So, neither the man nor the woman are the parents of the child.That must have been a case of Asigbe omo ward (mistakenly child swapping in
the matrimony ward).
Yes! It was a baby switch from the
hospital for a child that was almost three years. So, we told them to go back to the hospital where the child was delivered to see whether they can locate the family who held their own child. That was the best we could do at that circumstance.I am sure it was a birth switch because the woman was not the mother of the child.
How many days does it take to complete a DNA test?
Once you come to our office,we take your sample and then two or three minutes we are done. The results will be ready within three to five days.Rate of success of men that come to test the paternity of their children If you are the father it will be probably 100percent or 99.9 percent but if you are not, it will be zero percent. In terms of the results, most times it’s negative. Out of every 10 that we do, probably six or seven will turn out to be negative.
How much does it cost to do a DNA
paternity test?
As it is now, between N70,000 and
N80,000 for the father and child. If the family has to do it for all their four children,that is between N250,000 and N360,000. That is a lot of money. In this case, what we do is give a discount of about N30,000 on each child.
*Probono
If somebody denies the pregnancy of a poor girl because he has rich family members and the case is with the court,we will do it for free so that people will know the truth.
Sometimes the Ministry of
Women Affairs will come and we don’t charge them. We have done it several times.
*Interesting*
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