PATERNITY MESS: Ex-lawmaker, ‘son’ in hot dispute over DNA test

FROM LAYI OLANREWAJU, ILORIN

Getting to know who one’s father is after almost two and half decades of one’s birth ordinarily should be a great relief. This is not the case with 23-year-old Ishola Olusola Warah.

Ishola who is an undergraduate of School of Agriculture, Akure, is at loggerheads with a man his mother, Mrs. Afusat, claimed to be his biolog­ical father. But the supposed father, Engineer Sulyman Warah, a former member of Kwara State House of Assembly, is singing a different tune.

Ishola, who told Sunday Sun that his claim was not borne out of desire to benefit from the former law­maker’s fortune, said he only craved to be accepted as a son by his biolog­ical father.

Sunday Sun reliably gathered that Ishola’s mother decided to reveal the identity of the man who fathered her son after she found the pressure from Ishola to know his biological father unbearable.

Afusat had claimed she had a love relationship with the former lawmak­er about 24 years ago, when she was a student at Ilorin Grammar School while the ex-lawmaker was an un­dergraduate.

She further claimed that her rela­tionship with Warah was known to both her own family and Warah’s, but said Warah denied being respon­sible for the pregnancy, “because of the fear that his parents would stop financing his education.”

His alleged denial however made the woman to single-handedly shoul­der the responsibility of taking care of his son for more than two decades until recently, when she decided to reveal the identity of the man she claimed impregnated her and fa­thered the young man.

Following the ex-lawmaker’s de­nial of her son’s paternity, the parties opted for a DNA test in order to find a lasting solution to the controversy.

Thus, the parties headed for Har­mony Advanced Diagnostic Centre, Ilorin, Kwara State, where samples were taken and the test conducted.

Surprisingly, the result, Sunday Sun gathered, indicated that Warah was not the biological father. But the other party which claimed it suspect­ed a foul play in the manner the test was conducted has petitioned the Medical and Dental Council of Ni­geria, accusing the diagnostic center of unethical practice and breach of agreement.

The party also copied the Cor­respondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in the state and Legal Aid Council, Kwara State chapter. The petition reads: “This is to bring to the knowledge of the pub­lic a case of unethical practice/breach of agreement by Harmony Advanced Diagnostic Centre, Ilorin.

On September 3, 2015, myself, my mother and two other witness­es from my side, as a party, and my alleged father, Engr. Sheu Sulyman Warah, who denied my paternity for 23 years, his new wife and one Mr. Idris, were present at the Har­mony Advanced Diagnostic Centre (HADC) for DNA test to determine my paternity that has been in dispute.

“Samples of our saliva were taken (myself and Engr. Sulyman Warah) and the doctor on duty engaged the services of a dispatch rider to send the sample to Lagos for a laboratory test after informing us that the outcome of the test would be opened in the presence of all the witnesses in a few days time. We all departed in good faith.

“We were called to show up at the centre. Everybody showed up includ­ing my grandfather, Alhaji Ajamajebi who was not part of the first visit, but one of my witnesses could not hon­our the second invitation. In line with our earlier agreement, I thought the result would be brought in a sealed envelope. But to our surprise the doctor merely read the outcome of the test from his laptop, claiming the result was sent to his e-mail box.

“This negates our earlier agree­ment and we sensed a foul play. We left our e-mail addresses on the first day and no messages were sent to us. I am not convinced that the samples were sent anywhere.

“The result was printed on Har­mony Advanced Diagnostic Centre (HADC) letterhead paper in our presence.

“We politely protested the devel­opment but the doctor on duty simply told us he had the right to do whatev­er he liked.

“There is complicity in the whole arrangement. This is a fraudulent and unethical practice on the part of a supposed reputable diagnostic centre.

“I therefore want to implore the management of the centre to investi­gate this matter. The doctor on duty should be questioned because some­thing is definitely wrong. There is a compromise along the line. I hereby demand that another test be done on a neutral ground,” the petition read.

Giving his own side of the story, Engineer Warah insisted he is not the biological father of the young man, promising that he would make himself available at any time for the DNA test at any other place they choose.

“To put the record straight, I knew this girl some 24 years ago or there­about. I was in the university then. Shortly after, I didn’t hear anything from her until about two years later. I was even away. I was not in Ilorin then. She took a two-year-old child to my family house. And of course, my parents rejected him, questioning how they could accept such, espe­cially considering that their son was not even around. They told her they would invite her whenever I came around. And we never saw her again until some years later. When she came around again, I said ok, let’s opt for a test. And that was all.

“She came back again when I was preparing to contest an election in 2007, but I was not around. They asked her where she had been all along since we agreed to run a test. I saw the boy in question for the first time early this year and we agreed to have the test done. I paid N75, 000 for the test.

“Sincerely speaking, the first time I entered that place was the first time I met the guy that conducted the test. And the second time I was meeting him was when we went for the result.

“We went there and the man asked us if we were conducting the test for peace of mind or for judicial purpos­es, the two parties agreed that it was just to clear our conscience. I don’t know if there are different types of test for different purposes. The test was done and few days later, the man called to say that the result was ready. The other party was called too. We both attended.

“The guy opened his e-mail, hav­ing made us to realise that they have a partner in the US and that they don’t run the test in their own lab there. He said the specimen would be taken through courier to their partner in the US, which was what the guy did. He said that the result would be sent to his e-mail. In our presence, he opened his e-mail and read the result out to us all. I have a copy here. I am not a medical doctor. The result said that the alleged father is not the biological father of the tested child. The conclu­sion is based on the non-matching of the specimen etc.

“When the aunt of the mother of the boy said she suspected foul play, sincerely speaking, what I said was that, if you are not comfortable with this result, I am available. Let’s go somewhere else and re-do it. If the son is mine, I will accept him. But I can’t take what is not mine. Since then, you have not come back to me to say we should do it somewhere else. The next thing I was seeing is social media attack as if there was something sinister or that some polit­ical opponents were behind them. If they want to go anywhere else, I am ready,” he said.

from The Sun News http://ift.tt/1OA80m6
via IFTTT