Nigeria is facing a growing crisis as DNA paternity tests increasingly reveal alarming rates of deception, previously confined to private suspicions. This unsettling reality is now publicly tearing families apart, with men discovering that children they have loved and raised are not biologically theirs.
The devastating consequences, which include emotional betrayals, shattered identities, and families thrown into turmoil as issues of infidelity, secrecy, and the fragility of family bonds come to light remains a thing of national concern.
In a particularly shocking case in 2023, Olanrewaju Kolawole, a 44-year-old Nigerian man, collapsed and slipped into a week-long coma after DNA test results revealed that none of the four children he had with his wife, Toyin, were biologically his.
Kolawole had been married to Toyin for 16 years, and they had four children together. When a DNA test revealed that the first child, born soon after their wedding in 2007, was not his, Kolawole proceeded to test the other three children. The results showed that none of them were his either, causing him to faint and lose consciousness for seven days.
Kolawole’s wife, Toyin, disputed the test results, claiming she was not present when the samples were taken. However, the revelation had already shattered Kolawole’s world, leading to widespread media coverage and public discussions about paternity fraud. Toyin later admitted to having affairs with other men, citing her husband’s inability to perform sexually as her reason for seeking children outside their marriage. She even challenged Kolawole’s family to test his ability to father children with another woman.
Paternity fraud is defined as a widespread deception in which a child’s true biological father is misrepresented, causing emotional and financial damage. Such cases are not isolated. In another instance, a cryptocurrency enthusiast, Stephen Moses, discovered through a DNA test that the son he thought was his, born in 2018, was not biologically his.
Moses initially grew suspicious when his son, despite his parents’ AA and AS genotypes, was diagnosed with sickle cell disease, an impossibility based on genetics. A DNA test confirmed his fears, but his wife contested the results, claiming she had been unaware of the test beforehand.
The rise in cases like Kolawole’s and Moses’ reflects a troubling trend across Nigeria, with a 2024 report from a Lagos-based DNA testing center, Smart DNA, revealing that nearly 27% of paternity tests conducted returned negative results. This means that over one in four men tested were not the biological fathers of the children they believed to be theirs. The report also highlighted that DNA testing for personal reassurance, rather than legal purposes, accounted for 85.9% of cases, with the vast majority of tests being requested by men.
As the accessibility of DNA testing increases, so does public awareness of paternity fraud, which has sparked widespread debates on social media and in public forums. Some blame the trend on promiscuity and deception, while others argue that it reflects deeper issues within marriages, such as infertility or financial stress.
In response, there have been calls for legislative action, including a proposal to make paternity testing compulsory after childbirth in order to ensure transparency and prevent such devastating revelations later in life.
Legal experts note that Nigeria’s current legal framework is largely silent on the issue of paternity fraud. Although adultery is punishable by law under the Penal Code Act, there are no provisions for dealing with cases where a woman misleads her husband into believing he is the father of a child that is not biologically his. Victims of paternity fraud may, however, seek compensation through civil courts for financial losses and emotional distress caused by the deceit.
Religious leaders have also weighed in on the issue. Some, like Pastor Daniel Okunoye who spoke to Saturday Punch argued that paternity fraud is a symptom of the broader moral decay caused by widespread infidelity. He contends that if men were faithful to their wives, the opportunities for women to commit adultery would diminish.
Muslim clerics, meanwhile, highlight that while DNA tests are not explicitly mentioned in Islamic law, they can be used to determine paternity. However, Islamic law traditionally attributes a child to the husband of the woman who gave birth, regardless of biological ties.
In contrast, traditional African beliefs offer alternative methods for determining paternity. Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon, an Ifa priest, argues that Yoruba culture has long had potent, low-cost methods for verifying paternity, which have been abandoned in favor of modern, foreign practices.
As DNA testing continues to uncover the hidden realities of paternity fraud, it is clear that the issue has far-reaching emotional, legal, and societal implications.
The growing prevalence of these cases has led to widespread public discourse, calls for legal reform, and a renewed focus on trust, fidelity, and the importance of honesty within relationships.
