Obasanjo in sexual escapade with son's wife

Former Nigerian President, General Olusegun Obasanjo, is enmeshed in a scandal that has been described as "a taboo in any civilized culture."

General Obasanjo, who was recently a recipient of Ghana's highest state honour, Order of Star of the Volta, with a street named after him to boot, has been accused by his own son, Gbenga Obasanjo of having sex with the former's wife.

Gbenga, second son of the former Nigerian leader, is thus praying the Ikeja Division of the Lagos State High Court, to, in addition to dissolving his marriage with his wife, Mojisola Obasanjo, order a DNA test to determine the paternity of the two children produced during the marriage.

"The Petitioner (Gbenga) further avers that he knows for a fact that the respondent (Mojisola) committed adultery with and had an intimate, sexual relationship with his own father, General Olusegun Obasanjo," stated Gbenga in his affidavit to the High Court.

The former Nigerian President's son continued that "the Respondent (Mojisola) also got rewarded for her adulterous acts with several oil contracts with the NNPC from his father, General Olusegun Obasanjo, amongst which was the NNPC consultancy training in supply chain management and project management awarded to her company Bowen and Bowen."

Also cited for the DNA is Gbenga's father-in-law, Otunba Alex Onabanjo, who he accuses of sleeping with his own daughter.

Gbenga avers that "the respondent (Mojisola) confided in him severally while they were living together that she had been sexually abused and defiled by her father, Otunba Alex Onabanjo on several occasions."

According to Gbenga, "the lude sexual relationship of the respondent, with her own father, Otunba Alex Onabanjo and his father General Olusegun Obasanjo, has brought him great pain and psychological trauma and is the primary reason for the breakdown of his marriage to the respondent. "

Gbenga therefore "avers that it is now necessary for a court-ordered DNA test to be carried out on both himself, Otunba Alex Onabanjo and General Olusegun Obasanjo by a competent independent medical "laboratory chosen by the court, in order to ascertain the actual paternity of the children of the marriage as the continued uncertainty about their actual paternity is making his life a misery."

Sounding urgent, Gbenga continued in his 50-paragraph affidavit that "the actual father of the children of the marriage will be found amongst himself, Otunba Alex Onabanjo and General Olusegun Obasanjo and same must be addressed immediately."

Gbenga's affidavit was a response to a cross-petition by his estranged wife to his petition to the court seeking- dissolution of their marriage on account of deSet1ion from home.

Gbenga, a medical doctor, married Mojisola in Lagos on April 29, 2000. By 2004 things were falling apart and the centre could no longer hold.

On December 28, 2005 Gbenga petitioned the Ikeja High Court for a divorce on grounds of incompatibility, Mojisola's poor cooking skills, untidiness and her father's frequent meddling in the couple's affairs.

Gbenga was however, silent on the issues of incest and adultery. Fifteen days after the suit, a notice of discontinuance was filed by Gbenga's lawyers on his behalf, a development believed to have come from pressure from high up.

In her cross-petition, Mojisola is seeking a permanent order from the court directing Gbenga to pay her a lump sum of N54 million for her upkeep and that of the two children of the marriage.

During Ghana's Golden jubilee anniversary celebrations last year, General Obasanjo was given the highest State award at a special ceremony by President Kufuor.

On the same day of the award, the road, stretching from the 37 Military Hospital through Kawo Kudi Junction to the Dimples junction, was named, Olusegun Obasanjo Way, in his honour.

General Obasanjo, as Nigerian president, played a 'godfather' role to President Kufuor, first, when he was chairing the Economic Community of West Africail States (ECOWAS) and also as African Union Chairman, before he left office last year, following an election fraught with malpractices, described as one of the worst on the continent.