Singer Waje has revealed she got pregnant at 16 and that the father of her child denied responsibility.
Speaking on The Honest Bunch, Waje said she hid the pregnancy from her mother for five months. When her mom eventually found out and confronted the man’s family, “the young man denied being responsible for the pregnancy,” leaving her mother to care for her and the baby.
“In Igbo land, when a child is born out of wedlock, the family automatically adopts the child,” Waje explained. “So my mom just told him, ‘Okay, since it’s not you, the child is mine now.’”
Years later, the man resurfaced wanting to reconnect with his daughter. Waje said, “I told him, you’re a citizen of Canada, fight for your child. I wanted her to get the best education possible.”
They agreed to do a DNA test, but according to Waje, “He agreed, and I waited and waited. Nine months passed, then years, and he still didn’t do it.”
By the time her daughter turned 18, it was too late for him to file for her. “I was mad,” she said. “Because now she’s in university and I’m paying school fees in dollars. You can’t be calling me to say you want to send $200. We could have avoided all this.”
Waje added that her priority has always been her daughter’s well-being and giving her the best opportunities in life.