In a striking revelation, Olalekan Abiola, son of late MKO Abiola disclosed that 66 out of 120 individual who claimed to be the children of the acclaimed 1993 presidential winner failed DNA tests required to validate their paternity.
Speaking in an interview, Olalekan said many women took advantage of his father’s generosity where he often provided food, housing and school fees by later changing their children’s names to “Abiola” in hopes of securing a share of his estate after his death on July 7, 1998.
He explained that MKO, aware of the potential for false claims, has stipulated in his Will that DNA testing be mandatory for anyone asserting to be his children.
“Many of these women came to him for help, not the other way around”, Olalekan noted.
Despite being surrounded by women, Olalekan emphasized that his father lived a disciplined life rooted in Islamic principles, steering clear of alcohol, gambling, and partying.
“My father never drank alcohol, he didn’t go partying. The only thing you could say about my father that was kind of negative was that he had a lot of women but a lot of these women’s were those that came to him to give themselves willingly.
“They usually begged him for shelter, school fees and even food. They line up infront of the house every month to collect their allowance. They then began to call themselves Mrs Abiola. They would change their children’s name to Abiola and that was why my father wrote in his Will that DNA test had to be done for all those who claimed to be his children.
“About the 120 children came forward to say they were MKO’s children but only 54 of them passed the DNA test at the end of the day 66 failed DNA test”, Olalekan said.
