Father-of-three Accuses Sanwo-Olu Of Being His Father And Summons Lagos Governor To Court

A young father of three identified as Emmanuel Moses has summoned the governor of Lagos state; Babajide Sanwo-Olu before the Delta State High Court 2 at Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area, through his lawyer; Mr. John Aikpokpo-Martins, Esq.

In the EHC/148/2022 lawsuit between Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Emmanuel Moses Sanwo-Olu, the claimant claimed that he was the offspring of a friendly connection that his mother, Grace Moses, and the defendant had in 1994/95.

J. O. Aikpokpo-Martins, Esq., issued the claimant’s writ of summons, in which he requests the following from the court:

“A declaration that the defendant is the biological father of the claimant begotten from Madam Grace Moses of Oleri, Delta State.

“An order directing and compelling the defendant to acknowledge and accord the claimant all the rights of a son in accordance with all the laws applicable whether customarily, statutorily, or constitutionally.

“An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from further denying the parenthood of the claimant.”

In a 19-paragraph statement of claim attached to the writ, the claimant alleged that from 1994 to 1995, Governor Sanwo-Olu worked for a private company operating in Warri and its surroundings in Delta State. During that time, the claimant claimed, Governor Sanwo-Olu engaged in an extramarital relationship with Grace Moses, a young woman from the Oleri village nearby the Warri metropolis in Delta State, from 1994 to 1995.

He further claimed that with the defendant’s knowledge and without any form of retaliation from him, the aforementioned Grace Moses eventually became pregnant for Sanwo-Olu in 1994.

He continued by saying that the defendant departed Warri shortly after, and Grace Moses hasn’t heard from him since.

The claimant’s mother, Grace Moses, finally gave birth to a son, whom she called Emmanuel Moses.

The claimant claims that his mother raised him all by herself in ignominy, desperation, and hardships, as would be expected of an unmarried poor girl from an impoverished family.

She eventually registered her son as Emmanuel Moses at school, and the claimant eventually began asking questions about his paternity.

The only information the claimant’s mother could provide regarding the defendant’s past was that his father was a Yoruba man by the name of Jide Sanwo-Olu who had claimed to be from both Ijebu-Ode and Epe while being subjected to extreme peer pressure and mockery.

The claimant further asserted that his mother had told him that the defendant’s left-handedness and clean-shaven appearance were two distinguishing characteristics. Additionally, she recalled the defendant as being very kind, considerate, courteous, and soft-spoken.

According to Emmanuel, sometime in 2022, someone unexpectedly called his attention to the defendant while he was watching television and pointed out that he was also left-handed and looked similar to Sanwo-Olu.

The claimant claimed that up until he saw the defendant on television examining several projects in a video, he had his doubts. Concerned by the situation, he decided to go see his mother and ask further questions while armed with a video and picture of Sanwo-Olu.

He claims that to help his mother figure out who his father was, he grabbed the defendant’s image off his Instagram page along with those of seven other males.

The mother of the claimant was able to recognize the defendant in one of the numerous images presented to her as the guy she had an affair with between 1994 and 1995. At this point, the claimant’s mother was unaware that the defendant was the incumbent governor of Lagos State.

She also watched the recorded video of the defendant’s television show, and she immediately recognized him as Jide Sanwo-Olu, who lived in Delta State from 1994 to 1995 and had a successful relationship with her when she was pregnant.

To find out who his real father is, Emmanuel claimed that since the discovery, all attempts to contact the defendant had been ineffective.

The claimant is requesting a DNA test in the summons in order to support his claim, and the defendant is being asked to relinquish his right to constitutional immunity in exchange for agreeing to the test even if he maintains that he is not the claimant’s father.

The court documents, which were submitted on August 1st, 2022, were scheduled to be heard on Tuesday at High Court 2 in Effurun but were postponed until January 17th, 2023.

John Aikpokpo-Martins, the claimant’s attorney, explained to reporters after the lawsuit was postponed on Tuesday that the issue came up for hearing, but could not hold.

He explained that “the lawyers to Sanwo-Olu, Templas Law Firm, had earlier filed a motion to strike out the matter on the grounds that the governor was not ready to wave his immunity.”

Aikpokpo-Martins recalled that he had also filed an application seeking an order for the governor to wave his immunity to come for a DNA test to confirm or otherwise the boy’s paternity.

According to the legal practitioner, “We are expecting that he will do that if indeed, he is sure that he is not the father of the claimant.

“But unfortunately, he invoked his immunity to say he is immune against lawsuits and he is not ready to wave it. Upon that, they brought the application that the Court should not hear the matter. The Court should strike out the matter.”

He pointed out that the matter, which was meant for a hearing, could be resolved amicably if the defendant simply submitted himself for a DNA test.

“We ourselves, we are not ready. I pleaded with the other side to give us time to see if this matter can be resolved. Resolved in the sense that if the governor will just wave his immunity and come for a DNA test.

“If he is sure that he is not the father of the boy, why should he be afraid of submitting himself to a DNA?

“We have a situation where the claimant wants to be aware of who he is, and has stated clearly in the case that, he has no family.

“His mother’s family is just half a family. They all know that he is the child of a woman and we know, culturally, the child of a woman does not belong to that family.

“His rights are curtailed and things like that. And he is already having children. They need to know who they are,” he affirmed.

Aikpokpo-Martins, therefore, urged the Lagos State governor to validate the paternity of his client saying, “nothing more to it.”

He hoped that “From now till the next adjourned date, let’s see whether morally his conscience can be appealed to or bring himself forward for a DNA test with Emmanuel.

“It does not need to be in the press. It can be done quietly. Nobody wants to make noise with him, but he has extremely proven very difficult to scientific verification with the claimant.

“If it happens that Emmanuel is not his son, he goes home. It’s a very simple thing. But if it’s his own, then the young man will be happy that, at least, he knows where he comes from.

“By then, he now has the power and authority to go into the Sanwo-Olu family as a member of the family.”

A paternity case filed against Sanwo-Olu by Emmanuel Moses, who claims that the governor is his biological father, has been postponed until January 17, 2023.