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 that has now 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.
“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,” Justice Rhodes-Vivour said.
Reacting to the judgement, a prominent monarch in Nsukka and the grand patron of Enugu State Traditional Rulers Council, Igwe Simeon Osisi Itodo, said the Supreme Court ruling cannot abolish the tradition and custom of the Igbos. He said any attempt to implement such law in Igboland would provoke chaos and skirmishes among various communities, that the custom is unique to the people of South-East Nigeria, and should not be touched.
But another prominent monarch and the traditional ruler of Likke Iheaka autonomous community in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State, Igwe Christopher Nnamani disagreed with Itodo, and called on the states’ Houses of Assemblies in the South-East to make laws that would domesticate the ruling of the Supreme Court on the matter. He said that some fathers in their wisdom share their properties to their children while alive irrespective of their sexes, saying that the custom reduced the female children to slavish status in Igboland.
Also reacting to the court decision, Chief Augustine Emelobe, a renowned Chemical Engineer, said that it has removed the unjust and unfair treatment on the female children. “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'.
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 defense of the girl-child who before now, has been treated as a second class citizen in our society. “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,” he lamented.“We deeply appreciate the Supreme Court for this landmark judgment that has brought back the confidence of the girl-child in our society today".
-additional reports from Vanguardngr.