Abdul Salam Taofeek, the Yoruba actor popularly known as Tioruju Mondusi, has revealed how he discovered that two of the five children he raised were not biologically his.
In an interview with African A List, Mondusi recounted how his world began to crumble when he returned home from a film set to find his wife, heavily pregnant with their fifth child, not at home. One of his children told him she had been gone for three days.
He said he went to her mother’s house to report the matter. There, he saw a framed photo of his wife with another man hanging on the wall.
Mondusi said when he confronted her, she admitted that he was not the father of her unborn child. The revelation led to a serious fight between them.
He said he later learned that another man had signed the consent form for her cesarean section, a man he had previously seen at her shop but never suspected as a lover.
The actor said that after giving birth, his wife, now late, called him to come for the child, but he refused. According to him, undeterred, she showed up at his house with the baby and the other man.
“The person who offended me to the point that I questioned ‘why me’ is the mother of my children, but she is late now. I travelled to a location, and when I got back, she wasn’t at home. One of my children told me she had not been around for three days, and at the time she was nine months pregnant with our fifth child,” he said.
“I went to her mother’s house to report the situation, and when I got there, I saw a picture of her and another man hanging on the wall. I called her to confront her, and that was when she told me I was not the father of the unborn child. That led to a serious fight.
“When she gave birth through a CS, I was told it was another man who signed the consent form. I had met the man before at my wife’s shop, but I didn’t know they were having an affair. After giving birth, she called me again and asked me to come for my child, but because she had already told me I was not the father, I refused.
“She later brought the child to my house with the man she was having an affair with. I was very angry, so I called the police on them. At the police station, when she was asked who I was, she said I was the father of her children and that the other man was her husband.
“Meanwhile, the man was begging me to withdraw the case because his wife must not find out, as he was married with four children as well. We eventually left the police station, but I still did not accept the child.”
He said that less than a month after involving the police, his wife served him court papers for divorce.
The actor said in court that she confessed that only three of the five children were actually his.
“Less than a month later, I received a court summons that my wife wanted a divorce, and I also agreed to it. It was in court that she confessed that, out of the five children she claimed were mine, only three were actually mine, while two belonged to the other man,” he added.
“She said the first, second, and fourth children were mine, meaning I was not the father of the third and fifth. Meanwhile, I was the one taking care of the children, doing their naming ceremonies, and even burying their placentas.
“She died last year, and I still feel deeply pained whenever I remember the situation.”
