An Abuja customary court has ruled that no marriage existed between businessman Tunde Ayeni and Adaobi Alagwu.
Ayeni who is a former chairman of board of directors of Skye Bank Plc, has been in the public eye over a paternity dispute with Alagwu, an Abuja-based lawyer.
Alagwu had alleged that they dated in 2019 and that she welcomed a child with Ayeni in United States in 2022.
Ayeni however, denied the allegations, stating that he is not connected to the child and never married Alagwu and sought legal confirmation to declare it invalid.
The three-member panel of the customary court in its ruling on Tuesday, held that there was no evidence supporting Alagwu’s claim that a marriage existed between her and Ayeni.
The court also upheld Ayeni’s argument that his legally recognised marriage to Biola Ayeni, which had been in place since 1994, rendered any other purported marriage invalid.
According to reports; a DNA test report stated that there is a “99.9999997% probability of paternity” of Alagwu’s child to Ayeni.
The DNA test, conducted at DNA Diagnostics Center (DDC) in London on April 11, 2023, stated that “the alleged father is not excluded as the biological father of the tested child.”
Ayeni however denied the DNA result, stating that the certificate was “fake and compromised,” as there were “irregularities in the DNA testing process.”
He alleged that Alagwu and her associates hacked into email accounts of the laboratory responsible for the DNA test and inserted a fake document to support her claims.
The businessman added that he has no “biological relationship with Alagwu’s child” and is seeking a new, independent DNA test to ascertain his claim.
