Mohbad’s father has no right to demand DNA test – Legal mind

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Property and family lawyer, Onifade Olamide, has argued that Joseph Aloba, the father of the late music crooner, Ilerioluwa Aloba, famously known as Mohbad, lacks the legal standing to request a DNA test concerning his grandson, Liam.

 

 

There has been controversy over the paternity of Liam, the only child of the late Mohbad, before his sudden death.

The Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Ikorodu had granted the order that Wunmi, the widow of the late singer, be served notice of the pending DNA test application by substituted means.

This was contained in a statement signed by a member of the legal team to the Aloba family, Monisola Odumosu, and obtained by newsmen last week.

In the application filed by the legal team to Joseph Aloba, father to the late singer, the family sought an order to serve Wunmi by posting all the originating processes and other processes in the suit on the last-known address of the respondent.

According to the statement, the legal team led by Emmanuel Oroko had argued that the sheriff had attempted twice to serve Wunmi the court process but failed.

But Olamide, during her appearance on ‘Your View’, a live talk show on TVC, on Wednesday asserted that according to legal provisions, once a man acknowledges a child as his own, no external party holds the authority to challenge the child’s paternity.

She emphasised that Mohbad had previously acknowledged Liam as his biological child while alive, thereby precluding any contestation.

She further said that given Aloba’s status as a third party in the matter, the court is unlikely to entertain his request for a DNA test.

She said, “Under the law, when a man and a woman are married, any child they have, there is something called ‘Presumption of Legitimacy’ meaning that the man is the child’s biological father. That is what the law says except you can now prove that the child is not the man’s.

“In this case, Mohbad during his lifetime acknowledged the child as his own. Once a man acknowledges a child, no third party can contest it. The third party who is the grandfather is a busybody because the son said this is my child until his death.

“If he goes to the court to demand DNA, the court will ask him to file an affidavit stating the reason why he wants a DNA test done and he has to give very cogent reasons. Now the person to dispute paternity must be in the proceedings. Now the person to dispute paternity is dead.“