There was drama in Ibadan on Wednesday as three men engaged in heated arguments over the paternity of two children from a woman they all claimed they were married to.
The woman at the centre of the controversy, Taiba Raman has also not helped the situation as she confirmed she was having a sexual relationship with the men around the same time.
According to the accounts of the men, they were all married to Raman after fulfilling her mother’s condition of helping to pay off her debts before they were accepted as rightful husbands.
They all claimed they helped clear the debts of Raman and rightfully married her.
However, complications arose when two of the men claimed to have fathered a child each with Taiba, only to have them given to another man who insisted he was the father of both children.
They made this revelation while appearing on a radio programme anchored by Oriyomi Hamzat, tagged Kokoro Alate on Agidigbo 88.7 FM in Ibadan on Wednesday.
One of the men identified as Sharafa said when he met Raman, she informed him of her debt and he promised to pay if he could meet her parent whom he met, adding that he sold his work instruments to pay the debt and later had a child with her.
Speaking further, a few days after they had their first child and named him, someone else came to claim ownership which he found surprising, adding that his wife later exhumed the placenta that was already buried.
Sharafa said, “When I met her mother, she told me that whosoever pays off the debt will have her daughter in his home as his wife. I did and a few days after the naming of our first child, some people came to our house to claim ownership of the child.
So, we were all taken to the police and the area commander asked her who the father of her child was and she answered that I was the father. So, I was told to go home with my child and wife.
“A day after, she exhumed the child’s placenta claiming that she was threatened to be embarrassed by the man who earlier claimed to be the father of my child over her debt if she didn’t bring the placenta. So, we went back to the area commandant and he asked her who the father of the child was again and she changed her initial statement and said it was the other man who owned the child and we were all surprised.”
In the same vein, the second man, Oseni claimed to be the father to the second child, saying Raman lived with him for eight months in 2023 after paying N40,000 from her debt.
He said after conceiving their second pregnancy, Raman lied to him that she had a miscarriage, adding that he discovered she lied about the day she was named the supposed miscarried pregnancy with another man.
He said, “I have accepted that the second pregnancy was lost according to what she told me but I want my first child. She should give me my child, I have forfeited all the money I spent on her and her mother. All I want is my child.”
On his part, the third man, identified as Rauf, said he was surprised that Raman had two other men while she was with him but insisted that he was the father of the two children.
“I am surprised by this revelation. I never knew she had other men because we had been together for a long time. However, I am the father of the children,” he stated.
In her defence, Raman insisted that Rauf was indeed the father of the children, despite being married to all three men and having a sexual relationship with them.