AN Upper Area Court sitting in Abuja has issued a perpetual injunction restraining Hadiza Musa Baffa from attributing the paternity of her baby to former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN).
News Point Nigeria reports that delivering judgment on September 4, 2025, Judge Adamu Isah ruled that the defendant is barred from using the result of a DNA test or any public statements to claim Turaki fathered the child born out of wedlock.
In his judgment, Justice Isah specifically prohibited Hadiza, her agents, or any other person acting on her behalf from publishing or disseminating on social media, traditional media, or any public forum any claim suggesting that the child is biologically linked to Turaki.
“A perpetual injunction restraining the defendant, whether by herself, her agents, privies, servants or by any other person acting through her or for her, from publishing in the social or traditional media any content, statement, image or material suggesting or ascribing the defendant child born outside wedlock to the plaintiff (Turaki),” the ruling read.
The judge noted that the case was decided under Islamic law, which governs paternity claims of children born outside wedlock.
The former minister, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), had approached the court seeking legal protection, alleging that members of the Musa Baffa family including his wife, Ms. Uwani Arabi, and her daughter, Hadiza had been using law enforcement agents to harass him over the paternity claim.
Turaki maintained that he had never fathered Hadiza’s child and accused her family of trying to coerce him into accepting paternity despite evidence to the contrary.
He further alleged that Ms. Uwani Arabi had initially pleaded with him to act as a guardian for her daughter Hadiza, a request he agreed to, supporting her education and welfare.
However, he said he later discovered that Hadiza’s family had unilaterally changed her surname to “Turaki” without his consent, creating the impression that she was his biological child.
Hadiza Musa Baffa had previously accused the ex-minister of molesting and abandoning her after impregnating her, an allegation Turaki vehemently denied.
The case has attracted public attention because of the high profile of the parties involved and its implications for paternity disputes under Islamic and Nigerian law.
