By Sola Ogundipe
On any given  day, a  visit to the Department of Haematology & Blood Transfusion of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL) in Idi Araba, does not particularly set the mood for excitement or great expectations, except of course, one has in one’s possession a copy of a medical report entitled “The Final Maternity Test Result” (DNA test result) of one individual named Precious Ogbonna and “her” seven children she claimed she allegedly birthed within a space of 11 months. On this particular day, one was priviledged to be so adorned.

This same result that had been released about a week earlier by PathCare Laboratories in Lagos, following its collaboration with Vanguard Media Ltd. to unravel the truth and nothing but the truth behind the celebrated “seven babies in 11 months” or “7/11″ as it has come to be referred to in certain quarters.

Dr Vincent Osunkalu....I see her as a patient of pseudocyesis or false pregnancy

In the bid to find and fit in the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle, an “interpretation” was required from a medical expert. So armed with the result document, there was, perhaps more than enough justification to demand and obtain access into the presence of the top hierarchy of one of the nation’s most respected tertiary health institutions to seek their views on the burning issue.

Like magic, the doors swing open as if on well-oiled hinges and before you could say “DNA test”, one is ushered into the office of no less than the Acting Head of the Department of Haematology & Blood Transfusion in the person of Dr. Vincent Osunkalu, who is also Lecturer and Consultant Haematologist in the same department.

After a brief study of the maternity test result and without much ado, he got down to the business at hand.
“Let me tell you what has happened here. This result is clear and self explanatory. This woman is in no way the mother of these children. You can infer that from the summary (final result). Her status as mother has been excluded in each of the test results. The DNA parental test is an exacting test. It is quoted at 99.99 percent, but really it is 100 percent accurate even though in science we do not say anything is absolutely 100 percent.”

Explaining further, Osunkalu state: “There were 15 parameters utilised. The arrangement of these parameters is unique to every individual and is known as genetic fingerprinting. In order words the arrangement of that DNA sequence is unique to that particular individual.
“If a mother is going to pass these across to her baby’s, and she is also going to pass a whole set of her chromosomes to the baby, it is expected that even though the baby’s father’s own set of chromosomes are there, at any point in time, there should be that part of the mother’s chromosome visible in the baby’s own set of chromosomes.
“In fact the expectation is that the mother’s own set of chromosomes should be well represented. The sequences of her chromosomal pattern should be well represented in the baby. Failure to find this chromosomal pattern replicated in the baby, means there is no way she could be the mother.
In this case, the woman claimed to have birthed seven babies. One would expect that at least one of the babies would have been confirmed positively, but by the time none of the seven has any semblance , then there is a lot wrong with her claim.”
Osunkalu went further to conclude that the mind of woman in question was not stable. “This woman has been indoctrinated. She has been brainwashed, that is why she is talking of a covenant. This is because it is very possible that she has been told that the babies were spiritually placed in her womb and that the world would be against her having the babies. Somebody has played or is playing on her intelligence and she would not say anything difference. Her mind has been tampered with. It is not just punishing her that is the solution. She should be desensitised and only a psychologist can do that. It is like she is sleepwalking. Anything could have happened to her over the course of this incident.
“I see her as a patient of pseudocyesis or false pregnancy. It is the belief of a woman that she is  expecting a baby when she is are not really carrying a child. People with pseudocyesis have many or all of the common symptoms of pregnancy, with the exception of an actual foetus. This condition is not as uncommon as expected.”