Issues arising from DNA tests: Abiola as case study

In Moshood Abiola’s case, there has been turmoil in his household. The catalyst is his Will dated October 25, 1989, in which he had insisted that all the children bearing his name and who have been presented to him as his biological children should undergo DNA testing before they can inherit any part of his estate.

He made exceptions for only six of his children; the five children from his childhood love and first wife, and one other child.

This caveat in the Will immediately caused so much furore within the family with the wives divided into associations of pro-DNA wives and anti-DNA wives, But once a man has written a Will, it is axiomatic that his last wishes should be respected.

For nine years, not much was heard from the Abiola family on the matter of the man’s estate, until this week, when ThisDay and the administrator of the late Abiola’s estate shared the result of the DNA test with the public. It is quite an interesting report.

A quick summary: 25 of the children (already about 25 per cent) failed the DNA test, forcing younger brothers of the late business mogul and politicians to declare that bastards will not be allowed in the Abiola family!

About 21 children are yet to undergo the test but they have been advised by the administrators to do so post-haste (only God knows how many of them will pass the test).

And there are at least two children who had been disowned by Abiola himself, I guess by merely looking at them, and seeing that they do not look like him in any way!

So far, 37 children have been confirmed as DNA compliant, plus the six exempted children, and another seven who passed but are excluded from the Will.

It means that for now under the terms of the Will, there are 50 MKO Abiola children, the final figure to be derived subsequently from the results of the DNA testing of an outstanding figure of 21 children.

Curiously, there are also 15 other children who are described as not qualifying under the terms of the Will. We are not told whether these 15 children passed the DNA test or not, their classification is uncertain. Hun, orisirisi!

Now the lessons: it should be clear to everyone that if Abiola had died intestate (that is without writing a Will), his estate would have been shared among both rightful heirs and bastards with everyone pretending to be a principal member of his family.

MKO Abiola must have attracted so many children not his own because in his lifetime he was the great philanthropist who helped anyone that came along. It was even said that any woman who had a child for him got a handsome gift calculated in real estate and millions of money.

This was an incentive for any woman at all to dump a child on him. At least two women on the DNA list have some children passing the test and one in each instance failing the DNA test.

In his lifetime, MKO Abiola accommodated both the bastards and his own children, but he has now used his Will to show that he was not stupid at all, and that philanthropy has its limits. It is a powerful statement from the grave.

Only God knows how many men in our society are fathering and nurturing children who are not their own. And I guess this is not limited to polygamous situations like MKO Abiola’s.

The effect of the Abiola case is that more men are likely to write Wills, and are likely to ask for DNA testing. Thus, what the MKO Abiola Will has done is not just to make the writing of Wills advisable, it has also popularised DNA testing.

First established in 1985 by Sir Alec Jeffreys, DNA testing or DNA fingerprinting has become a popular means of establishing identity and a useful tool in criminal investigations.

Methods adopted include polymerase chain reaction and fragment length polymorphism but in simple language, through DNA testing, accurate genetic information can be established.

The interesting thing is that it is cheap: between $99 and $125, the more expensive options are not more than $500, but the results in all instances are reportedly accurate and conclusive.

[Contributed]