On April 11, 2014, the Nigerian Supreme Court gave a landmark unanimous verdict confirming that the Igbo customary law of inheritance, ‘‘which excludes female children from inheriting the property of their deceased fathers was in conflict with the non-discrimination provisions of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution, and therefore void”. The Supreme Court had upheld as inviolate the findings by the lower courts in the Ukeje v. Ukeje and Anekwe v. Nweke on the same day.
In both cases, the Supreme Court condemned the refusal of customary law to recognise female inheritance with regards to property. In the court’s wisdom, the customary law conflicts with the fundamental rights to freedom from discrimination set out in section 42(1)(a) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution. The court clarified that no matter the circumstances of the birth of a female child (born in or out of wedlock), such a child is entitled to an inheritance from her father’s estate.
Curiously, while many women groups, human and civil rights groups welcomed the judgment, most traditional rulers and male groups have verbally dared the court to come to the South East to implement the judgment. Most of them insisted that their culture does not recognise the female child as an equal to the male in terms of inheritance.
The South Eastern part of the country is notorious for its patriarchal leanings culturally, socio-economically, politically and even religiously. There is virtually an unconcealed preference for the male child from conception, with modern scanning techniques that make it possible to confirm the gender of a fetus. Some couples even abort female fetuses. If and when the female child is born to some couples in cases of non-pre-delivery gender confirmation, there are often different songs for a male child and those for a female child. Some of the songs often subtly put more value on the male child.
In some marriages without a male child, the men, often under family pressure, do everything possible either to get a child out of wedlock or marry extra wives so as to get a son. This to us is weird for a region with more than 90 per cent Christians that profess faith in God.
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So, the mindset that the male child is a superior child, given that they often do not leave their families to marry and other culturally and religiously fostered practices have entrenched the superiority complex on the male gender in the region.
So, despite the United Nations and other global bodies’ acts and treaties, many of which Nigeria is signatory to, acts of gender injustice still subsist in the South East. Ironically, countries like India, South Africa and Tanzania are among the developing countries that have made significant jurisprudential progress in this regard.
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We are disappointed that 10 years after the Supreme Court verdict, many women in the South East still face a series of discriminatory practices not limited to property inheritance, in what we describe as very hypocritical pick-and-choose defiance of the law. In the region, traditional rulers now operate under state institutions, they get their staff of office from governors. They operate under the ministry of local government and chieftaincy affairs, get paid salaries and allowances and are generally cared for by the state. Under these circumstances, the traditional rulers who are really the custodians of the cultures and traditions, and who ought to really influence the upholding of the Supreme Court verdict do not abhor the constitution but would quickly revert to quoting the customary law when it comes to gender justice and equity.
We are concerned about the disobedience of the verdict of the highest court in the land because it has a huge impact on justice and development. Societies develop faster when law and order is the mantra for all the people. A case of some men pushing the levers of patriarchal impunity without consequences is indicative of lawlessness in what ought to be a constitutional democracy. The neglect of women’s rights and property rights impacts significantly on the socio-economic development of the nation.
More measures should be taken to enforce compliance with the apex court’s judgment. Civil society groups and governments at all levels must educate more women and create more communication channels through which victims of the patriarchal system can get justice without spending a fortune that they can ill afford.
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