The Supreme Court has voided the Igbo law and custom, which forbid a female from inheriting her late father’s estate, on the grounds that it is discriminatory and conflicts with the provision of the constitution.

The court held that the practice conflicted with section 42(1)(a) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution. The judgment was on the appeal marked: SC.224/2004 filed by Mrs. Lois Chituru Ukeje (wife of the late Lazarus Ogbonna Ukeje) and their son, Enyinnaya Lazarus Ukeje against Mrs. Cladys Ada Ukeje (the deceased’s daughter).

Cladys had sued the deceased’s wife and son before the Lagos High Court, claiming to be one of the deceased’s children and sought to be included among those to administer their deceased’s father’s estate.

The trial court found that he was a daughter to the deceased and that she was qualified to benefit from the estate of their father who died intestate in Lagos in1981.

The Court of Appeal, Lagos to which Mrs. Lois Ukeje and Enyinnaya Ukeje appealed, upheld the decision of the trail court, prompting them to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In its judgment last Friday, the Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeal, Lagos was right to have voided the Igbo’s native law and custom that disinherit female children.

Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, who read the lead judgment, held that “no matter the circumstances of the birth of a female child, such a child is entitled to an inheritance from her later father’s estate.

“Consequently, the Igbo customary law, which disentitles a female child from partaking in the sharing of her deceased father’s estate is breach of Section 42(1) and (2) of the Constitution, a fundamental rights provision guaranteed to every Nigerian.

“The said discriminatory customary law is void as it conflicts with Section 42(1) and (2) of the Constitution. In the light of all that I have been saying, the appeal is dismissed. In the spirit of reconciliation, parties to bear their own costs,” Justice Rhodes-Vivour said.

Justices Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, Claral Bata Ogunbiyi, Kumai Bayang Aka’ahs and John Inyang Okoro, who were part of the panel that heard the appeal, agreed with the lead judgment.

Source: http://www.cracong.org/supreme-court-upholds-right-of-female-child-to-inherit-properties-in-igboland/

Thank God i am getting married to an Igbo girl .....

whether they like it or not. traditionally a female can't inherit a land in Igbo land

aru!

Igbo land z not Bini where famales have rights to lands n houses


Igbo aju kwa

afanide:
Thank God i am getting married to an Igbo girl .....

lol

So what title would that confer on you?

Lalasticlala, Mynd44, Seun. Tell the Igbo babes that thy are now recognised by law....

Young03:
whether they like it or not. traditionally a female can't inherit a land in Igbo land

aru!

Igbo land z not Bini where famales have rights to lands n houses


Igbo aju kwa

Haba,


But what is the offence...

What does it take from you.

Abbeyme:


Haba,


But what is the offence...

What does it take from you.

they can't be living in another .mans house and be dragging properties with the man


they r temporal beings in Igbo land

Young03:



they can't be living in another .mans house and be dragging properties with the man


they r temporal beings in Igbo land

Hmmm soo much for advanced people yet you people say we oppress women up north, here women can inherit properties, land etc and if lady dies her properties are inherited by her children or relatives.

and they will say hausa people are chauvinistic,oppressionists and uncivilised....this one is far worse than the banned kannywood actress..we can see that the northerners' backwardness is better than afro-israelites 'forwardness'.smh for eastern tribe of african israelites with cave mentality

kudos to my Niger deltan sisters,who get a good share of their father's property......i trust my sisters dem,no man fit oppress dem.

thunder will faya anybody that say s my daughters wont inherit my property...in short,all my property will only go to my daughters....no food for any lazy man

Yet if dis should happen in the West. U see them infesting dis thread shouting afonja. What kind of traditions forbids a woman from inheriting her late father property.

Landmark judgment. I believe it's a way of giving voice to the girl child. However, this judgment brings to the fore other pertinent issues such as the girl child becoming heiress to a traditional throne.

k

Young03:

they can't be living in another .mans house and be dragging properties with the man
they r temporal beings in Igbo land

keep quite. wht is good for the goose is good for the gander. if this story is from the north. my Igbo brother will have come out with dere dick measurement telling us how the North is backward. yet we are the most hypocritical tribe in Nigeria.

This is a welcome development

The trial court found that he was a daughter to the deceased and that she was qualified to benefit from the estate of their father who died intestate in Lagos in1981.

Nigeria Judicial system is miserable. Case of 1981 is decided in 2016, a whopping 35years after.

Gadamit

The incorruptible Judges..Inyang Okoro also agreed

Thankfully women are free from such a backward custom. To think some people would still try to cheat their sisters in this present age!

ha

Wonderful!!!

Good news

Lols! Soon all outdated barbaric laws and customs will be put into the trash can of history including the bible and it's teachings.

I wonder who dragged them to court in the first place

TonyeBarcanista:
This is a welcome development but how enforceable is this?

d woman in question can sue her oppressionists and her backward israelite brodas with cave mentality

It won't stand. I am heading to ECOWAS Court straightway. You can't inherit in your husband house and inherit in your father's house.

Congrats..justice has spoken...

One would have expected Chimamanda or whatever her name is to start fighting this kind discrimination of woman in Iboland but she will be busy forming foreign feminist.

I never knew such things exists in the east! I hope this judgement is obeyed so more woman from that region will start to fight for their right.

Still surprising.

Very good move. The female gender shouldn't continue to suffer a raw deal in this country.

razortruth:
It won't stand

see ur backwardness is worse than northerners'

oglalasioux:
Lols! Soon all outdated barbaric laws and customs will be put into the trash can of history including the bible and it's teachings.

The Bible is the future. You will be ruled by its contents

Well thats a good one, i'm in support.

No comment.....
Waitaminute....I've been thinking I'll inherit these houses when pops dies in the future....this girl berra behave oooo
Infact, my father should write will.....

I rejoice with my northern brothers,my brothers from the east over to you