Court rejects ex-Minister’s bid to exclude DNA evidence
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday rejected an application filed by Mr. Kabiru Turaki, the former Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs Minister, who sought to prevent the police from using the results of a DNA test in his paternity dispute with Hadiza Baffa.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, ruling on the ex-parte motion presented by Turaki’s lawyer, Abdulaziz Ibrahim, SAN, stated that the relief sought by the former minister could not be granted without first hearing from the other parties involved in the case.
The judge explained, “After reviewing the motion and the supporting affidavit, including the affidavit of urgency, I believe the prayers cannot be granted without hearing from the respondents.” As a result, Justice Ekwo directed Turaki to notify all respondents within two days and ordered them to show cause at the next adjourned date why the relief sought should not be granted. The matter was adjourned to February 24 for the respondents to present their defense.
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In his motion, Turaki had sued the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Inspector-General of Police (I-G), DCP Rita Oki Oyintare (Deputy Commissioner of Police for Gender), and Hadiza Musa Baffa as the 1st to 4th respondents. Turaki sought an interim injunction preventing the respondents from presenting, using, or relying on a DNA paternity test result from DNA Labs Limited, dated November 5, 2024, or any subsequent test results.
Turaki’s motion, filed on February 13, argued that he had previously filed a suit against Hadiza on June 24, 2024, seeking declaratory reliefs, including an injunction to prevent her from claiming to be married to him or that her child was his. Turaki alleged that Hadiza made several petitions to the police regarding the case, which were consolidated, and the investigation was assigned to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police for Intelligence. Despite this, Turaki claimed DCP Oyintare continued to harass and intimidate him, leading him to file complaints about abuse of power.
He described an incident on November 5, 2024, when DCP Oyintare allegedly insisted on taking a DNA swab from him after detaining him for several hours. Turaki claimed the DNA test was conducted under duress and violated his fundamental rights. He argued that the police intended to rely on this test result in a criminal charge filed against him, which he believed would cause irreversible harm if used in court.
When the matter was called, Ibrahim, representing Turaki, asked the court to prevent the DNA test result from being presented in court. Justice Ekwo questioned whether it was possible to stop the respondents from presenting the result in court, to which Ibrahim argued that the court could intervene due to the manner in which the test was allegedly obtained.
However, after hearing the motion, the judge concluded that it was necessary to hear from the other parties before making a decision on the application.
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