The Supreme Court has upheld the right of a female child to inherit her father's properties and this decision has divided Igbos as some are in support while some oppose it.



Igbo laws and customs prevent female children from inheriting their father's estate, specifically land in their father's ancestral home.



The decision by the supreme court voids this age-long Igbo custom on the grounds that it is discriminatory and conflicts with the provision of the constitution.



The Supreme Court held that the practice conflicted with section 42(1)(a) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution.



The land mark 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 Ms. Gladys Ada Ukeje (the deceased’s daughter).



Gladys 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 father’s estate.



The trial court found that she was a daughter to the deceased and that she was qualified to benefit from the estate of their father who died intestate in Lagos in 1981.



The Court of Appeal, Lagos to which Mrs. Lois Ukeje and Enyinnaya Ukeje appealed, upheld the decision of the trial court, prompting them to appeal to the Supreme Court.



In its judgment, the Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeal, Lagos was right to have voided the Igbo 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 late father’s estate.



Justice Rhodes-Vivour said: "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 are to bear their own costs."



Justices Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, Clara 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.



The decision has evoked mixed reactions from Igbos.



In his reaction, the Bishop, Diocese on the Niger, Anglican Communion, Rt. Rev. Owen Nwokolo described the judgment as a welcome development.



According to Vanguard, he said that female children are not second class citizens and should not be treated like one.



He said: "Female children have and should be accorded the same rights given to their male counterparts and therefore should not be discriminated against.



"This is not the first time the Supreme Court has given this judgment. Some years ago, the Supreme Court gave similar judgment but we are happy and we thank the Supreme Court for upholding the same judgment and there is no going back in females inheriting their fathers’ property.



"Families should put the judgment in practice and female children should stand up and claim their right. It is not only Supreme Court judgment but God given right and they should take that right."



Prof. Uzodinma Nwala-led Alaigbo Development Foundation, ADF, also welcomed the decision, saying, "In today’s world, daughters have proved their mettle in bringing sustainability, honour and dignity to their families. Some of them have played the role of bread-winners for their father’s houses.



"So, it would have amounted to great injustice to continue to deny them the right of inheritance. They should be entitled to a fair share of their family wealth whether married or single."



However, a prominent monarch in Nsukka and the grand patron of Enugu State Traditional Rulers Council, and the traditional ruler of Aji autonomous community in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State, Igwe Simeon Osisi Itodo, said the Supreme Court ruling cannot abolish the tradition and custom of the Igbos.



Itodo said that any attempt to implement such law in Igboland would provoke chaos and skirmishes among various communities.



He argued that the custom is unique to the people of South-East Nigeria and should not be touched.



"There are traditions which had existed before the law. Before the emergence of law courts, Igbos have their tradition and custom which cannot be wiped out because of Supreme Court ruling.



"There are so many things we have in common which cannot be stopped because of court verdict.



"We are not against that ruling but we would not abolish our customs and traditions which all of us met. You can imagine a married woman coming back to her father to share his property with the sons.



"We would not allow it because it would breed chaos and troubles in our communities. If there are customs that allow such inheritance, let the people continue the practice but it won’t work in Igboland.



"In India, women pay the dowry but the reverse is the case here. We would not abolish our unique customs because of court ruling," the monarch said.



The President- General of Ndigbo United Forum, NUF, Chief Godson Ezenagu, commended the decision of the Supreme Court, saying that granting females access to their fathers’ property is natural, adding that it would give them a sense of belonging in the society.



"According to Igbo tradition, the female child inheritance does not happen and now that the Supreme Court has ruled that they are entitled to that, by natural justice and conscience, I agree with them completely.



"Granting them access to their biological father’s properties is a natural thing. Sometimes, customs handed over from generation to generation can be awkward and can be discontinued.



"For denying them that, they are put in serious jeopardy; they are molested at home and also in their marital home. Their partaking in sharing of property will make them more comfortable than the situation in which they found themselves. That is what is supposed to happen naturally.



"All animals are equal and at the same time, all children are equal. We shouldn’t because of custom deny the female child her natural right.



"So, it is a welcome development and I am sure all people of good faith will support it and advocate that even the ones that have not been done or already done could be revisited."



Chief Augustine Emelobe, a renowned Chemical Engineer, said the Supreme Court's ruling has removed the unjust and unfair treatment on the female children.



He told Vanguard: "I support the verdict of the Supreme Court. Children are children irrespective of whether they are male or female. I have always had the notion that it is unjust and unfair on the part of the female children.



"I applaud the Supreme Court as the last hope of the common man in this age-long man’s inhumanity to man."



For the President-General of the Coalition of South-East Youth Leaders, Goodluck Egwu Ibem, the Supreme Court decision is a welcome development.



According to him, it is a wonderful defence of the girl-child who before now, has been treated as a second class citizen in our society.



He said: "She is seen as the property of her husband who loses all forms of rights once she gets married. A man who has only female children in our society loses his rights to certain privileges like being a traditional ruler or his inheritance in his own father’s compound. The situation before now has been very ugly.



"We deeply appreciate the Supreme Court for this landmark judgment that has brought back the confidence of the girl-child in our society today."


Source:
https://www.thenaijafame.com.ng/2020/08/igbos-disunited-as-supreme-court.html?m=1

Good

What an archaic and hostile law against the girl child.

Civilization has heralded the World some laws are suppose to be dumped.
What if a man has only female children, what happens to his inheritance? I guess some Uncles will take over the inheritance.

This is 2020 stop this age long discrimination against the girl child.

IS THE DOOR NOW OPEN TO CROWN PRINCESSES?

Fvcking man made laws.

Another haphazard Ruling. Is this a Miyetti Allah FULANI HERDSMEN LAW, CHRISTIAN, SHARIA, ODUDUWA, IGBO, TIV OR IBIBIO LAW?

The judgement is deficient. Until community land is inclusive. The imbalance continues

I think females should have right to their fathers property especially if they have not married but the Supreme court cannot abolish the custom of a people based on Supreme court Judgement of Judges from other customs who don't understand the Igbo custom and rather want to compare it to common sense or 21st century expectation because at it's least customs are more than that and at its most they are the complete guidelines that totally define a group of people and their culture ....What the supreme court has done is say that the Igbos and their cultures don't exist under Nigerian Law which is supposed to guarantee freedom of beliefs and association of every recognized group under it.

A man should have the right to will his property to anyone he so chooses. Anyway, that's why the wise and wealthy Igbos will buy properties they wish to give their daughters in their names so there are no arguments.

Customs are not static. That's why we no longer live in family compounds and comply with a long list of dos and don'ts that infringe on personal rights and comfort. Of course, the good values of some of our customs are still greatly cherished.

God one from the supreme Court, igbos tradition wahala too much...

Good news if I may say

Good Verdict, We all need equality and justice.
Now stop Sharia and 4 marriages as well,
If not then this entire system is nothing but banana republic. Or should i say Islamic republic

I laugh in Odenigbo.

What they have refused not saying here is that whenever an Igbo lady gets married, the father settles her with her own inheritance as she goes into her husband's house and bears a new surname. I've seen Igbo men settle their daughters with houses, estates, cars, and other valuable properties as she goes into her husbands house. My mom was settled by her family with 2 ladies motorcycle in the days when owners of white horse bicycles were respected. Teachers and civil servants rode bicycles to work then.

It is the husband that marries the woman and her post-marital inheritance lies in her husband's domain no longer in her father's house. Her mother's inheritance is also hers in Igbo custom.

What the law will simply encourage is for criminal minded men to marry ladies from wealthy families so as to share in the largess and wealth of their father-in-laws and confront brother-in-laws for properties that they were not present when the 'sweat laid the bricks'. Chaos!

The yoruba Judge simply read an academic note not a judgment. He is not ethnically-wired to understand the nittygritty of that customary law and why wise elders of Igbo land enacted it thousands of years before his forefathers were born.

The law is deeper than quoting paper sections and subsections, it is unimplementable. You can't force Igbo men to will their properties into another family where their daughters are married into after settling the daughter with her own share of the family properties when they she got married. Shikena!

Another point: The yoruba judge should also rule that yorubas should stop marginalizing their women from becoming Ooni of Ife and Alaafin of Oyo.

I think a human right organiation should drag the yorubas to court over the issue, so that we can liberate yoruba women from that anti-female yoruba custom that prevents yoruba women from becoming Ooni, Olubadans and Alaafins in their father's land. Make sure it is brought before an Igbo or a Fulani judge, to rule out bias.

LadyExcellency:
The judgement is deficient. Until community land is inclusive. The imbalance continues

Which one is community land?

LaboPolitics:
I laugh in Odenigbo.

What they have refused not saying here is that whenever an Igbo lady gets married, the father settles her with her own inheritance as she goes into her husband's house and bears a new surname. I've seen Igbo men settle their daughters with houses, estates, cars, and other valuable properties as she goes into her husbands house. My mom was settled by her family with 2 ladies motorcycle in the days when owners of white horse bicycles were respected. Teachers and civil servants rode bicycles to work then.

It is the husband that marries the woman and her post-marital inheritance lies in her husband's domain no longer in her father's house. Her mother's inheritance is also hers in Igbo custom.

What the law will simply encourage is for criminal minded men to marry ladies from wealthy families so as to share in the largess and wealth of their father-in-laws and confront brother-in-laws for properties that they were not present when the 'sweat laid the bricks'. Chaos!

The yoruba Judge simply read an academic note not a judgment. He is not ethnically-wired to understand the nittygritty of that customary law and why wise elders of Igbo land enacted it thousands of years before his forefathers were born.

The law is deeper than quoting paper sections and subsections, it is unimplementable. You can't force Igbo men to will their properties into another family where their daughters are married into after settling the daughter with her own share of the family properties when they she got married. Shikena!

Another point: The yoruba judge should also rule that yorubas should stop marginalizing their women from becoming Ooni of Ife and Alaafin of Oyo.

I think a human right organiation should drag the yorubas to court over the issue, so that we can liberate yoruba women from that anti-female yoruba custom that prevents yoruba women from becoming Ooni, Olubadans and Alaafins in their father's land. Make sure it is brought before an Igbo or a Fulani judge, to rule out bias.

MUMU, The Supreme Court of Nigeria (God) has spoken, if you don’t like what you are hearing, you can commit suicide to prove your point, or you could just quietly relocate to Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, or Cameroon? where your purported biafra rights might be upheld.

favor914:
MUMU, The Supreme Court of Nigeria (God) has spoken, if you don’t like what you are hearing, you can commit suicide to prove your point, or you could just quietly relocate to Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, or Cameroon? where your purported biafra rights might be upheld.

When it is time, your lazy yoruba skull can come from Oshogbo with the efulefu girl you married to come and claim her father's properties in Aguleri.

Tell your lazy yoruba men who married ibo girls to come down with your yoruba skulls and fight for their wives father's properties if dem born una well.

I repeat, the yoruba judge simply read an academic exercise book. Not a judgement.

favor914:
Which one is community land?

You never heard or read Nigerian constitution and Land Use Act.

We have individual land, communal land and State land.

Male Children share communal lands as inheritance excluding female children from getting anything out of it in the hope they will marry.

favor914:
Which one is community land?

Village land,,,.....

favor914:
Which one is community land?

ancestral inheritance passed on from father to children. Btw hi

Hallelujah o

IGBO WOMEN GO LOVE ..........

SUPREME COURT, FG , APC , BUHARI & CJN ....

While....

THE IGBO MEN GO HATE THE ABOVE MENTIONED

Thank God oh..... Women have more right in Saudi Arabia than in the East

GamalNasser:
I think females should have right to their fathers property especially if they have not married but the Supreme court cannot abolish the custom of a people based on Supreme court Judgement of Judges from other customs who don't understand the Igbo custom and rather want to compare it to common sense or 21st century expectation because at it's least customs are more than that and at its most they are the complete guidelines that totally define a group of people and their culture ....What the supreme court has done is say that the Igbos and their cultures don't exist under Nigerian Law which is supposed to guarantee freedom of beliefs and association of every recognized group under it.

Customes and laws evolves with the times oga.Yes, back in time, your people once used human being for sacrifice to appease the gods of the land but it has been abolished becos we are wiser and now know that all human lives are sacred...
What about the Osu cast system practice in the East ? is it also not regarded as one of your custom, which design to dehumanized another human being & Strip them of thier dignity? .Now this cultural practice will certainly be justified by your kind, as part of your culture and so must be respected by all .no problem
So what about some cultural practices, that is melted toward widows, during thier late husband burial ? These poor women are treated badly by shaving off thier hairs from thier head and force them to drink the water from their dead husband coupes.They are many more evil & discrimnatory practices all in the name of it is our culture bla bla bla..It is easier to defend such barbaric culture when you are not at the receiving end .

The constitution supersede every other laws if the land as long as it touches on justice & Equity. Any culture that is design to descriminate, malign or hurt another human being should be abolished .