Politics
How DNA testing may wrongly nail your wife (1)
How DNA testing may wrongly nail your wife (1) By Tunde Odesola
DNA– For a breath of fresh air and to maintain my sanity, I’ll desist from talking about the retired General Muhammadu Buhari in this article. Also, I’ll resist talking about murderous Boko Haram, terrorist Fulani herdsmen, nationwide bandits, humongous corruption and bleeding nepotism which the Buhari regime will bequeath to the incoming Presidency in 2023, if Nigeria exists till then, luckily.
I understand why it’s not easy for Nobel laureate, Professor Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, to give up hope on his 61-year-old country, Nigeria: no parent will nurture an Abiku from infancy through childhood to adolescence, and incautiously watch the heartless child climb a pawpaw tree with vegetable stalk – without shouting gbajare!
So, I understand the patriotic zeal which, for almost 70 unbroken years, has fired Soyinka up to engage in an eternal struggle for a better Nigeria.
At a point in 1965, Soyinka justifiably held, at gunpoint, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, Ibadan, despite security presence; landed in jail over a pro-Biafra article in 1967, at another point, and escaped into exile in 1994 when he was sentenced to death by the rogue General, Sani Abacha, who was dragging Nigeria to the point of no return. Doubtless, the sagacious Soyinka had a brush with the law one time too many over his conviction.
The last time the white-mane literary icon wrote a novel, Season of Anomy, was 1973. His new novel, Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, is his third, while The Interpreters written in 1965, was his debut.
It’s the mighty shame of a nation that the same themes of corruption, hypocrisy, nepotism, ignorance, blood-letting, poverty that are Soyinka’s preoccupations in his 1965 and 1973 novels, remain his motifs in his 2021 novel.
While some global issues which Soyinka spoke to in his works have changed for the better, it’s excruciatingly painful that his country, Nigeria, remains rooted to the bottomless pit of underdevelopment despite decades of his literary and social advocacy for change.
I wish I could measure the heaviness of the soul of Africa’s foremost literary figure, Soyinka, seeing his Nigeria, the Abiku, swimming in crocodile-infested pond while giant gators glide to gobble the Abiku, together with its defiance and charmed bangle-feet.
For Soyinka, appearance and reality in Nigeria are siamese even though he faults the depiction of Nigerians as ‘happiest people on earth’ in his latest work. Soyinka’s Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is a stinging irony of the sorrowful Nigerian populace described by total strangers as joyful.
However, Appearance and Reality weren’t the same for me some decades ago when I served in the National Youth Service Corps in Umuopu and Aji communities of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council of Enugu State.
Then, I had a shapely girlfriend, whose name flirts on the periphery of memory now. I think she’s Eucharia. UK, for short. Then, I shared a top-floor two-bedroomed flat with a fellow corper, James Umor, now deceased, in a storey building owned by a traditional shrink called Enwe Nwanjo,who had a son, Emma, who had a beautiful wife, and a baby girl called Kasie. Emma and his family lived on the ground floor of the main building with us. Enwe Nwanjo had died a few years before my NYSC posting, but I still met his legend in Aji as a great healer of sick minds.
UK, an ebony beauty with a dimpled smile, lived in another apartment on the top floor with us. One night something happened.
I had just returned from a journey late in the night. And the whole compound had gone to sleep. I had come out on the verandah to have a drink and smoke a cigarette. Then I heard the bed creak in UK’s room. Sleep fled from my eyes and the hair on my head stood on end.
“But UK told me she was going to Nsukka to see her parents this weekend?” I recalled silently as I tip-toed towards her door in the dark hallway.
I peeped through the keyhole, darkness stared back at me. Then, slowly, very slowly, my mind dismantled the darkness. I saw two human forms, one lying behind the other, on the small metal bed by the curtained window…
I stayed all night on the verandah smoking and shacking whiskey as the harmattan wind froze my bones, but I kept my gaze on UK’s door while I intermittently patrolled the other louvered window to her apartment, which wasn’t in full gaze.
Then, another thing happened. Around 5:30am, or thereabouts, I heard a crowd of people chatting from a distance on the hazy road to our apartment. Then, some male and female students, who lived in the compound, together with a teacher, Florence Enwe, who’s the sister of Emma, and my smiling UK, burst into view. They were all coming back home from a vigil in their catholic church!
I quietly sneaked into my apartment, relieved but still curious. I heard UK’s footfalls as she climbed the stairs and I re-emerged from my apartment. She greeted me and asked smilingly, “You no dey sleep, Kopashon?” She knocked on her door. A preteen girl of about 10 years, whom she described as her sister from Nsukka, opened the door drowsily, stretching and yawning. “Tunde, see ya life,” I said to myself silently.
This is my own experience with Appearance and Reality. While Soyinka sees Nigeria for what it truly is, the Appearance I saw in Enugu Ezike was far from Reality.
What did the 178-year-old British newspaper, The Economist, see when it described the Buhari regime as incompetent, last week? Appearance or Reality? Or both? I’ve vowed not to talk about Buhari in this piece, and I wish to be faithful to my promise. I’ll leave Buhari for now and go ahead to explore DNA testing as a realm of science where results may not always be accurate.
Despite a woman’s fidelity to her man, a DNA testing could wrongly label the faithful woman a cheat if she gave birth to a chimera baby.
Unlike the generality of humanity possessing a single and distinct set of genes, chimera individuals have at least two sets of genes, which can result in a false negative result when the genetic composition of their tissue which was sampled for DNA testing is different from their reproductive tissue.
The case of American Taylor Muhl, a 37-year-old female singer, songwriter and dancer, brings into keener perspectives the issue of genetics and the probability that DNA testing could go wrong.
Though the multiple sets of genetic compositions in chimeras differ from one individual to another, in the case of Muhl, she was her own twin. This means that her embryo swallowed the twin embryo in her mother’s womb.
The fusion of the embryos could be in the gonads, testicles, abdomen, hand, transplanted parts of the body or any part of the body.
If it was in the testicles, for instance, the child fathered by the seminal fluid of the chimera individual would likely carry the gene of the other unborn, infused twin – such that DNA tests on the children produced by the chimera will prove negative.
There’s the case of another American woman, Karen Keegan, whose own children were disproved by DNA testing, until a US court ruled that the pregnancy she had at the time in question should be recorded.
Despite being video recorded at childbirth, DNA testing conducted on Keegan’s new baby also proved that she wasn’t the mother of the child.
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: @tunde odesola
Twitter: @tunde_odesola
TundeOdesola.com
* To be concluded.
Governor Dauda Lawal Named Part of Presidential Delegation for Historic UK State Visit
Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State has been named as a member of the presidential entourage that will accompany President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and First Lady Oluremi Tinubu on a historic two-day State Visit to the United Kingdom.
According to a statement from the Zamfara State Government House on Monday, the Governor will depart Abuja for the UK on Tuesday for the visit, which is scheduled to take place on March 18 and 19 at the invitation of the British Royal Family.
During the visit, King Charles III will host President Tinubu, the First Lady, and the Nigerian delegation at Windsor Castle, where they will view a special exhibition of Royal Collection items related to Nigeria. The Royal Family will also host a State Banquet in honour of the Nigerian guests on the evening of Wednesday, March 18.
The presidency has outlined that the purpose of the visit is to strengthen bilateral relations between Nigeria and the United Kingdom. President Tinubu is scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which are expected to lead to expanded bilateral discussions and the signing of Memorandums of Understanding covering trade, investment, defence, and cultural cooperation.
The President will also serve as the guest of honour at the Nigerian Modernism exhibition, which showcases contemporary art and culture, and will participate in a reception with Nigerian and British business leaders as well as members of the diaspora community.
The Zamfara State Government expressed confidence that Governor Lawal’s participation in the high-level delegation will provide valuable networking opportunities, opening significant prospects for investment and economic benefits for Zamfara State. The visit will also see Governor Lawal display his repertoire of knowledge on global policy and corporate governance and also pitch the Mineral and Farming rich state to potential investors during the bilateral meeting with the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer.
Politics
LPDC Verdict: CRG Hails Decision Clearing Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, Condemns Political Witch-Hunt
LPDC Verdict: CRG Hails Decision Clearing Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, Condemns Political Witch-Hunt
The Centre for Responsible Governance (CRG) has welcomed the decision of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) dismissing the complaint filed against the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Okezie Kalu, describing the ruling as a clear affirmation of due process and institutional integrity.
In a press statement issued on Thursday, the spokesman of the Centre, Obande George, said the verdict of the disciplinary body has once again vindicated the Deputy Speaker and reaffirmed the position earlier taken by CRG that the allegations against him lacked merit.
The LPDC, in its ruling referenced BB/LPDC/1954/2026, held that no prima facie case had been established against the Deputy Speaker and dismissed the complaint in its entirety.
According to George, the decision demonstrates the importance of allowing competent institutions to examine allegations objectively rather than rushing to judgment in the court of public opinion.
“From the onset, the Centre for Responsible Governance maintained that justice must take its course. We insisted that competent institutions should be allowed to examine the issues without political pressure or sensationalism. The LPDC’s ruling has now clearly shown that the allegations had no foundation,” he said.
The CRG spokesman further stated that the decision reinforces the sterling reputation of the Deputy Speaker, who has over the years built a distinguished profile both as a legal practitioner and as a legislator.
“Honourable Benjamin Kalu is a respected member of the Nigerian Bar and an accomplished lawmaker. Attempts by some individuals to impugn his reputation through unfounded allegations were unfortunate and unnecessary.”
CRG also condemned the actions of certain civil society groups that were quick to demand that the Deputy Speaker step aside from office even before any formal determination had been made by the relevant authorities.
George described such calls as premature and irresponsible, noting that they contributed to the politicisation of a matter that required sober institutional review.
“It is disappointing that some civil society organisations rushed to demand that the Deputy Speaker step aside without allowing due process to run its course. Advocacy for accountability must be guided by facts and fairness, not by sensational pressure.”
The organisation also criticised what it described as the role played by some political actors from the South East who allegedly sought to exploit the controversy for narrow political interests.
According to CRG, it is troubling that certain politicians would attempt to undermine one of their own for short-term political advantage.
“It is even more disturbing that some political actors from the South East appeared eager to weaponise this matter in an attempt to bring down one of their own for cheap political gain. Such actions weaken collective political progress and erode the spirit of solidarity required for national development.”
CRG therefore called on Nigerians to learn from the episode and reaffirm respect for institutional processes and the rule of law.
The organisation stressed that public discourse must be guided by evidence, fairness and responsible engagement rather than rumours or politically motivated campaigns.
“The lesson here is simple: allegations must be tested by competent institutions before conclusions are drawn. Nigeria’s democracy will only grow stronger when due process is respected and reputations are not casually destroyed.”
CRG concluded by congratulating the Deputy Speaker for maintaining calm and dignity throughout the controversy, noting that his composure reflected confidence in the justice system.
@The Centre for Responsible Governance, Email: [email protected], Instagram: crgngo6, Twitter: crgng06, Threads: crgngo6
Obasa Appointed to CPA African Executive Committee
The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. (Dr.) Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, has been appointed as a Sub-National Representative to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) African Executive Committee.
The announcement was formally conveyed through a letter from the CPA Africa Region, which was read on the floor of the Assembly by the Clerk, Mr. Olalekan Onafeko, on Tuesday, March 10. The appointment confirms Speaker Obasa’s three-year tenure, spanning 2026 to 2029.
Lawmakers took turns to congratulate Speaker Obasa, praising his devotion to parliamentary service and his consistent efforts to strengthen legislative practice. They described his appointment as a recognition of his hard work and a reflection of Lagos State’s growing influence within the Commonwealth. Members noted that his achievements continue to bring pride not only to Lagos but to Nigeria as a whole.
In his remarks, Speaker Obasa expressed gratitude to his colleagues for their support, urging them to remain steadfast in prioritizing the progress of the Assembly and to continue working collectively to advance the legislature. He further directed the Clerk to send a formal letter of appreciation to the CPA African Region for the honour bestowed upon him. “Let us always put the House of Assembly first and never relent in our efforts to move the legislature forward, ” Obasa concluded.
The CPA African Region plays a pivotal role in advancing the interests of African parliaments within the Commonwealth. It is widely recognized for promoting gender equality, women’s empowerment, respect for human rights, democracy, and good governance across member nations.
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