A man, Akeem Amodu, and his wife, Awawu Oluyide, are at daggers’ drawn over who the true father of their one-month-old baby girl is. The baby was christened on February 17 but the ceremony wasn’t held in Amodu’s house. Before the date, Awawu had packed her belongings and relocated to the home of her boyfriend with her baby. She claimed her husband was not the true dad of the baby, insisting that she had just returned the baby to the authentic father. But Amodu would have none of that. He is insisting that the baby girl is his daughter.
At Fagbenro and Abeokuta streets, Alagbado, in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos, where the couple and their parents reside, the controversy rages on, as many wonder who the biological father of the innocent baby girl is. Trouble started when Amodu discovered that his wife had suddenly abandoned their matrimonial home for her boyfriend’s place. He reported the matter to the police and detectives went with him to the home of the wife’s boyfriend.
The officers then directed that Awawu and her baby should relocate to her parents’ house and remain there. They said a DNA test would be conducted on the baby when she’s nine months to determine her paternity. But Amodu said in direct contravention of the police directive, Awawu and her baby were caught on March 1, passing the night in her boyfriend’s house.
When the reporter met with Awawu recently, the young woman didn’t deny being Amodu’s wife but she maintained that her baby’s real father was her boyfriend. She said: “He is just a thief, who wants to claim what is not his. I was once his wife and in 2010, I gave birth to a baby for him but the baby later died. When I was with him, I was always having problems. He never gave me any rest of mind. That was why I packed out of his house and came to stay with my parents. I stayed with my parents for more than a year. “But he and his mother were always coming to beg me in my parents’ house, pleading that I should reconcile with him.
But during that time, I was already having a relationship with another man. I later took in for the other man. Amodu came again and I told him that I was already pregnant for another man. But he kept begging me, saying he would take care of me and the baby and that I could then give the other man his child. He said I should come back to him so that I could give him his own child too. “So, I went back to him. By that time, the man that got me pregnant was not in Lagos. But when he eventually came back, I told Amodu that the man, who owned the pregnancy had returned and wanted to have his baby.
Amodu then asked for a refund of the money he had given me for buying the baby’s things and we got it for him. “But after getting the refund, he came back with policemen a couple of days ago to harass me, claiming that the child is his.” But Amodu insisted he’s the father of the baby girl. His words: “Yes, Awawu once had a baby for me but the baby died after some time. After the death of the baby, we had a quarrel and she moved to her parents’ house. But after some time, she started coming to see my mother, begging her to talk to me so I could take her back.
When my mother asked me to settle with her, I warned my mother that Awawu was a troublesome woman but my mother begged me and I settled with her. She started coming to my place but she didn’t move in with me.” “After sometime, she told me that she had taken in for me. She never told me another man was responsible for her pregnancy. It was in May last year that she told me she had taken in for me. And I told my mother about it. By July last year, my mother took her to a doctor for pregnancy tests and it was confirmed that she was already two months pregnant.
During that time, I was always buying things for her at her parents’ place. Almost everybody knows me in her family house. We had even done some of the traditional wedding rites. “My mother is dead now. But before her death, Awawu once told my mother and I about a man she said was giving her ante-natal care, so we went to see the man to thank him. She also told me of a church where she said she would be attending for the safety of the baby but I refused. I chose a hospital for her instead.
She never told me I wasn’t responsible for the pregnancy all that time. There was even a time she met with a lady in my place. She fought seriously with the lady, accusing her of wanting to snatch her husband. “When the pregnancy was about eight months, she collected N50,000 from me to buy the necessary baby’s things but at some point, I began to smell a rat. The first two times she had a scan, she used my surname for the baby. But on the third occasion, she used her name only. And the delivery was almost due. When I asked her why she did that, she said she forgot. I wondered how she could have forgotten such an important thing.
“One day, I sent money to her as usual but she refused the money. And when I asked her why she did that, she said she didn’t need anything from me any longer. That was when she said I wasn’t the father of the baby. That was about the time she would give birth. Meanwhile, I had already prepared for the christening of the baby. I already bought many things to do the naming ceremony. That was when she refunded the money I had given her for the baby’s things. She then moved to the house of the man she said was responsible for her pregnancy.
She delivered the baby there and the baby was christened there. “But I am sure I’m the father of the baby. That is why I want everyone to know this. The police told us to wait till the baby is nine months old before we go for the DNA but I am worried because she and the baby are with the other man. And if she and the man are sleeping together, the DNA might show the man as the father of the baby. “That is why I want this matter resolved now. I am convinced that the baby is mine and I want my baby.
When we brought the police into the matter, they ordered that she and the baby should remain with her parents until the DNA test was conducted and the authentic father known. But on March 1, she took the baby to the other man’s house and passed the night there. She has been doing that in defiance to the instruction given by the police.”
No comments:
Post a Comment