Nigerians have longed lived with the belief that married women do not cheat or bare children for any other man except their legally married husbands; it used to be a major taboo in the land for a married woman to be seen with another man.
The society so much frowned on it as if it takes only the woman to commit the crime or sin. The woman, usually, would face severe stigmatization and shame that it was almost unheard of in the community.
However, recent happenings have shown that this once alien trend is becoming paramount in the land. Lately, a large number of cases of men raising children not fathered by them have sprung up in the news that so many are now calling for paternity test to become a criteria before children are registered or given birth certificates.
A popular media personality popularly known as “Nedu” took to social media to debunk claims of domestic abuse leveled against him by his ex-wife. According to him, he left the marriage because a paternity test revealed that he was not the true biological father of the boy in question.
Just as Nigerians were gathering momentum to crucify him for laying such hefty accusations on his wife, she released her statement not denying nor agreeing to the paternity issue.
In her words, “You have already spread that certificate to the whole world. It is no longer and has never been a secret.” It is alleged that the child in question is for her own sister’s husband.
This is not the only paternity issue that has received media attention recently; some even led to the man committing suicide. For instance, Jacob Numku, a farmer and petty trader from Toto in Nassarawa State decided to end it all when his wife told him that their only child was fathered by another man.
We have quite a number of cases which didn’t end well especially for the men, and as the trend suggests, it will become whole lot messier if more paternity investigations are being carried out on supposedly happy homes today. My bet is that more and more cases will be revealed of families bringing up illegitimate children both home and abroad.
How did the society grow to accommodate such an evil trend? Is it the financial or economic hardship that has forced these women to dare it all by going out to cheat up to the point of getting pregnant and even going further to place the pregnancy on the husband’s lap as his? But we have seen the wealthy also among those in this sham, so its not just about the money.
Could it be caused by the man’s inability to father children? But again, some of the men have gone ahead to father other children from the same women. So, how come she got pregnant for another man even while living under his roof?
Let’s not be gender biased here, focusing on the women alone. The man who had the guts to impregnate another man’s wife really have to be examined mentally. Most of them know fully well that they’re legally married, and yet go to these extreme lengths.
More and more people are calling for a compulsory inclusion of the paternity test right at birth; this is to prevent innocent fathers from suffering huge, painful emotional torture when the news finally breaks that the child isn’t theirs. It’s obviously not a good place to be, having been committed to the child financially, emotionally and physically.
Would you vote for the paternity clause ?
