SAHARA REPORTERS
There is anxiety and suspicion as the paternity test conducted by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to determine the paternity of a 20-year-old woman identified as Juliet Agulanna came back negative.
Juliet was allegedly stolen at birth from her parents in Enugu and a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test earlier conducted suggested that the ‘parents’ the woman in question have known as her parents are not her biological parents.
SaharaReporters had reported that the result of a DNA test conducted at Safety Molecular Pathology Laboratory says Professor Michael Ike Okwudili is the father of Juliet Agulanna.
The said Juliet is alleged to have been stolen from her mother at birth by Mrs Mariatha Chidinma Agulanna and has lived with them for the past 20 years.
SaharaReporters had exclusively reported how by ‘divine providence’, Juliet met Lady Gloria Okwudili, whom the first DNA test result identified as her biological mother.
To ascertain the possibility and clear doubts, the Okwudilis conducted a DNA test on the young lady which came out positive. But the matter has now become a subject of controversy.
However, following the discovery, Mrs Agulanna petitioned the Police Force Intelligence and Investigation Department (FCIID), alleging that the Okwudilis were inciting people to mob her.
Unfortunately, after the police arrested the Okwudilis and collected N1.1 million for investigation and another DNA test on September 2022, the police failed to investigate the case.
Suspecting that the police team led by CSP Chris Ofor may have compromised their integrity, Mrs Okwudili petitioned the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). The agency immediately swung into action and arrested Mrs Agulanna and her husband.
The anti-human trafficking agency, sometime in February 2023 took the Okwudilis and Juliet to LifeBridge Medical Diagnostic Center in Enugu for another DNA test.
Confusion, however, set in on Wednesday, April 26, after NAPTIP invited Okwudilis to its Enugu office and told them that they are not the biological parents of Juliet.
A NAPTIP official subsequently handed them the DNA result from LifeBridge Medical Diagnostic Center which says they are not the biological parents of Juliet.
The DNA result sighted by SaharaReporters partly reads: “Final Result: An incompatibility with paternity was found at more than two markers. Paternity of individual 1 (Mr Okwudili Michael I excluded.)”
Meanwhile, SaharaReporters learnt that NAPTIP officials had been holding marathon meetings with the Okwudilis.
The Agulannas have claimed that they adopted Juliet at birth.
When SaharaReporters contacted Mr Okwudili, he confirmed the development but vowed to get to the root of the discrepancies in the DNA test results.
He said, “I am not worried about the discrepancies in DNA test results but I can assure you, I will get to the root of it no matter what it takes.
“The only way the DNA test results could vary is if samples taken from one of us were swapped. Otherwise, there’s no way a DNA test result from the same samples could come out with different results from two laboratories. One must be right and another not correct.”
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN SAHARA REPORTERS
