How DNA Revolution Exposes Families’ Hidden Truths, Betraya l6

…IBRAHIM ADAM writes that families are tearing apart over DNA scandals fueled by infidelity and disloyalty

When Emeka (not his real name) met Juliet Oberu in 2015, he believed he had found love and the promise and prospect of a family life filled with warmth and laughter occupied his mind.

Barely months into their relationship, Juliet revealed that she was pregnant.

For Emeka, the news was a moment of pure joy, the first daring step into the uncharted, exhilarating world of fatherhood.

He welcomed Juliet into his modest Ughelli apartment, supported her through the pregnancy with unwavering care, soothing her fears and celebrating each fluttering kick as if it were a promise for the future.

When she delivered a baby boy, Emeka wholeheartedly embraced the role of a proud father with every fibre of his being.

Every sleepless night, the sound of the first gurgling coos, every scraped knee, the toothless smiles child became a thread binding him, irrevocably, to a child he believed was his own flesh and blood.”

From 2015 to 2023, the couple lived together and grew their family. Two daughters arrived, completing a trio of children that Emeka embraced as his own. He prided himself on doing everything a man should: providing, nurturing, and raising them with love and dedication. Yet beneath the surface of this seemingly perfect household, subtle cracks were beginning to appear.

He began noticing what he described as “strange signs”: whispered exchanges between Juliet and the boy, fleeting glances loaded with hidden meaning, and a gnawing unease he could not put a finger on.

His mother’s troubling dream, a vision that one of the children might not be his, was dismissed at the time. But the seed of doubt had been quietly planted, taking root.

Then came the moment that changed everything. In 2023, murmurs within the community and a stranger’s audacious claim that Juliet’s first child belonged to another man pushed Emeka to seek answers.

A DNA test conducted at an Ughelli, Delta State clinic delivered a blow he was utterly unprepared for: the boy he had loved, raised, and protected for eight years was not his biological child.

“I cried,” he recalled, his voice heavy with the weight of memory. The discovery shattered his world.

The revelation did not just end a relationship; it forced him to confront raw questions about trust, betrayal, and the hidden truths that can lurk silently within the walls of a seemingly lovely home for years.

Emeka’s story, while deeply personal, is far from isolated. In 2022, a Lagos-based man made headlines after discovering, through DNA testing, that none of the three children he had raised for years were biologically his.

The revelation set social media abuzz, sparking debates about trust, fidelity, and the potential need for mandatory paternity testing in Nigeria, especially at birth.

Ugly experiences

A year earlier, at a men’s conference in Abuja, a banker shared a similarly harrowing ordeal.

After two decades of marriage, DNA results revealed that two of his four children were not his biological offspring. His candid advice, “trust but verify,” resonated nationwide, exposing a quiet epidemic of paternity uncertainty cutting across social classes and households alike.

For Justice Anthony Okorodas of the Delta State High Court, the betrayal was even more staggering.

During the COVID-19 lockdown in April 2020, he discovered that the three children he had lovingly raised with his ex-wife were not his.

The revelation, delivered through an anonymous tip, was nothing short of traumatic.

“For years, I had no reason to doubt my children’s paternity,” he said, his voice trembling with sad recollection. “But I needed clarity. I subjected all three children, the youngest now 17, to DNA testing. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, I had to wait until August 2020. A few days after the tests, the results came back, and sadly… none was my biological child.”

Beyond these headline-grabbing cases, countless testimonies circulate daily on X, Facebook, and other social media platforms.

Some men share heart-wrenching stories of discovering that none of the children they cherished were biologically theirs, while others speak of relief, as DNA testing cleared lingering doubts and restored trust in their marriages.

Women, too, have weighed in. Some insist that DNA testing protected them from false accusations of infidelity, offering clarity and vindication.

Even celebrities have not been spared. In 2021, comedian, actor and on-air personality, Chinedu Emmanuel, widely known as Nedu Wazobia, revealed that DNA results showed one of the children he had raised was not his.

This revelation sparked widespread conversations about betrayal, accountability, and the fragility of trust in relationships.

Hard facts

Amid this backdrop of personal ugly experiences and societal debates, Smart DNA Nigeria, the country’s leading DNA testing centre, released its 2025 Annual DNA Testing Report.

Covering the period from July 2024 to June 2025, the report offers the most comprehensive snapshot yet of paternity testing in Nigeria and its broader implications for families and society.

DNA, the genetic blueprint carried in every cell, determines who we are. A DNA paternity test uses this information to establish whether a man is the biological father of a child.

The 2025 Smart DNA report revealed that DNA testing surged, accounting for 13.1 per cent of all cases in the year in review, and was largely driven by emigration-related demands.

While migration dominated the headlines, the findings on paternity uncertainty were no less striking: one in four paternity tests still returned negative.

It indicated that in one out of every four households tested, the presumed father was not the biological parent.

The data from Smart DNA over the past three years show a troubling consistency. From July 2022 to June 2023, 26.12 per cent of paternity tests returned negative; in 2024, the figure rose to 27 per cent, before dipping slightly to 25 per cent in 2025. Despite minor fluctuations, the pattern is clear: about one in four paternity tests in Nigeria ends in disappointment, underscoring the persistence of paternity disputes across households.

The report also uncovered unsettling details about firstborn children; that firstborn sons had the highest rate of disputed paternity at 64 per cent, while firstborn daughters were also more likely than later-born siblings to be biologically unrelated to their presumed fathers.

Driven by migration

Beyond family dynamics, migration is reshaping the demand for DNA testing. Saturday PUNCH gathered that immigration-related DNA tests surged to 13.1 per cent in 2025, up from just under nine per cent in 2023, reflecting the growing wave of Nigerians relocating abroad.

Families with dual citizenship increasingly sought DNA tests as part of documentation for their children’s relocation, with many parents securing foreign papers as a form of “second passport insurance.”

The gender imbalance in DNA testing remained striking. Nearly nine out of ten test initiators were men (88 per cent), while women accounted for just 11.8 per cent.

This disparity suggests that men are far more likely to harbour doubts about paternity, often carrying silent suspicion for years before seeking scientific confirmation.

More than just DNA

These figures highlighted are far more than statistics; they tell a story of fractured trust, cultural expectation, and social upheaval. The persistent one-in-four exclusion rate exposes deep cracks within family structures.

It showed that beneath Nigeria’s strong cultural emphasis on marriage and parenthood lies a hidden current of infidelity, suspicion, and secrecy.

For many men, fatherhood is no longer an unquestioned identity; it has become a status that requires scientific verification.

Experts weigh in

Elizabeth Digia, Operations Manager at Smart DNA, emphasised the urgent need for legal and social reforms to address the fallout from paternity uncertainty.

“Nigeria lacks specific paternity fraud laws, unlike South Africa, leaving men with little legal recourse when discovering non-paternity after years of financial and emotional responsibility,” she said.

Digia also stressed the value of integrating DNA testing into broader public health strategies.

“Public health campaigns should normalise paternity discussions and incorporate DNA testing into pre-marital and family health programmes,” she stated.

Addressing common misconceptions, she added, “Many people still believe DNA testing is only for wealthy families, or assume that physical resemblance guarantees paternity. Our mission is to provide certainty through accurate testing while ensuring sensitive handling of the life-changing information our clients receive.”

Other experts, among them a family sociologist at the University of Lagos, Dr Ifeoma Onuora, noted that the implications extend beyond biology.

She described the report as a “wake-up call” for Nigerian society, adding, “What these numbers reveal is a quiet redefinition of family. DNA testing is no longer just a medical tool; it has become a cultural force, reshaping how Nigerians perceive marriage, trust, and responsibility.”

The Managing Director of DNA-Harley and Rainbow Specialised Laboratory, Dr Ademolu Owoyele, on his part, called for the introduction of mandatory DNA paternity tests as part of the birth registration process.

He revealed witnessing a surge in demand for such tests, with nearly 47 per cent of Nigerian men tested discovering they are not the biological fathers of children they believed were theirs.

Owoyele acknowledged a level of statistical bias, noting that most men who approach DNA labs already harbour doubts about their paternity.

“People come to us because of uncertainties in their family lives, whether it’s for emotional reasons, child support issues, or simply to confirm biological ties,” he said.

On the science behind testing, Chief Executive Officer of a genetic diagnostics company, DemyHealth, Emeka Obiodunukwe, stressed that methods matter as much as the results.

Speaking at a briefing in Lagos, he highlighted that a method known as Sanger sequencing by capillary electrophoresis remains the gold standard in paternity testing.

Despite the emergence of next-generation sequencing technologies, Obiodunukwe argued that CE remains unmatched for its accuracy, reliability, affordability, and long history of success, noting that it can deliver over 99 per cent accuracy in paternity cases.

Another DNA expert and Medical Director at DNA Centre for Paternity Test, Abiodun Salami, revealed startling statistics on paternity misidentification.

According to him, based on experience in DNA testing, most firstborns are not sired by the men they call their fathers because so many women have prior sexual relationships just before getting married.

“Most female undergraduates now have one man or another sponsoring their education aside from their fathers. These are the men who will eventually be the chairmen at their wedding,” the DNA expert revealed.

Not peculiar to Nigeria

Nigeria is not alone in grappling with the implications of DNA testing. Across Africa, similar trends are emerging, though with national variations.

In South Africa, studies suggest that up to 30 per cent of paternity tests return negative results, prompting calls for legislative action against “paternity fraud.” The country has already debated legal frameworks that could compel compensation in cases where men have unknowingly raised children that are not theirs.

In Kenya, the rise of DNA testing has sparked public controversies, particularly involving high-profile figures.

In 2019, a court-ordered DNA test involving a prominent governor revealed discrepancies, igniting debates on whether DNA testing should be made mandatory at birth.

In Ghana, while reliable national data is scarce, anecdotal evidence from clinics suggests rising demand for paternity tests, particularly among urban middle-class families.

In Uganda, DNA testing remains less accessible, but recent media reports indicates growing interest, especially in paternity disputes linked to inheritance battles.

‘Court an’t force adults into DNA testing’

Legal Advisor and Managing Partner at Abdu-Salaam Abbas & Co., Faruq Abbas, has explained why the court cannot compel an unwilling adult to submit to a DNA test.

In a one-minute 40-second video posted on LinkedIn, he emphasised that the rules guiding DNA testing differ for children and adults.

Abbas stressed that under the Child Rights Act, once the paternity of a child is in dispute, the court is empowered to order a DNA test in the best interest of the child.

“Can the court compel an unwilling adult to submit to a DNA test? The answer to the question is no. There are different rules governing the conduct of a DNA test for children and for adults,” he said.

He further explained that while the court may order DNA tests for children, the same principle does not apply to adults.

According to him, an adult cannot be compelled to undergo the test without his consent.

“However, where the test involves an adult, the court cannot compel that adult to submit to a DNA test without his consent,” Abbas said.

The lawyer emphasised that such compulsion would amount to a breach of constitutional rights, particularly the right to privacy.

“This is because compelling an adult without consent would amount to a breach of his right to privacy under the Constitution,” he explained.

Abbas advised that paternity disputes should ideally be resolved when individuals are still minors, as it becomes legally challenging once they cross into adulthood.

 “Therefore, in cases of paternity disputes, it is important that DNA tests are conducted during childhood. Once an individual crosses into adulthood, it becomes very difficult to compel such a person to submit to a DNA test,” he added.

The legal expert concluded by noting that DNA testing in paternity matters must always strike a balance between protecting children’s rights and safeguarding the constitutional rights of adults.

“DNA testing in paternity disputes must be carefully considered within the framework of the law, ensuring that children’s rights are protected while also upholding the constitutional rights of adults.”

From Emeka’s heartbreaking discovery in Ughelli to the cold statistics of Smart DNA’s annual reports, the story of DNA testing in Nigeria is one of broken trust, shifting identities, and changing social contracts.

Many have noted that while the 2025 data showed a slight decline in negative paternity tests, the enduring reality that one in four presumed fathers are not the biological parent is a sobering indictment of family life in Nigeria.

According to them, combined with the surge in immigration-related DNA testing, it reveals a society in flux, negotiating both intimate betrayals at home and collective aspirations abroad.

As experts warn, Nigeria’s failure to enact legal protections for men caught in paternity fraud, coupled with limited public awareness, leaves families vulnerable to both emotional and financial ruin.

And yet, the very existence of DNA testing offers clarity where once there was only suspicion, making it both a tool of pain and of peace. (Punch)