BEVERLY HILLS, March 03, (THEWILL) – In a landmark judgement, an Akwa Ibom State court has nullified the traditional practice that denied female children in Etinan Local Government Area the right of inheriting their father’s properties.
A State High Court sitting in Etinan presided by Justice Effiong David Udoh Idiong quashed the practice on Wednesday while delivering a judgement in a suit brought by eight children of the late Obong Patrick Joseph Noah of Edem Ekpat in Etinan Council Area.
They had filed the suit against their Aunt, Mrs. Gertrude Ekanem, to stop her from inheriting the landed property of her sister, the late Immaculata Noah, who died without a husband or a child and left behind assets.
The case with the suit number HET/3A/2019 between Mr. Michael Patrick Noah and seven others and Mrs. Gertrude Ekanem, originated from the Etinan District Court, whose judgement the appellants appealed to the Chief Magistrate Court and the High Court.
In their evidence, the appellants contended that their Aunt, being a woman and who had also been married out of the family, could not inherit her sister’s property located at Number 24 Iman Street, Etinan.
In his judgement, Justice Idiong described such practice as anachronistic, primitive and unconscionable, which should not exist in the 21st Century society.
The court held that any custom, which denied a woman an inheritance on the ground of her sex, was not only unfair, but ran contrary to the fundamental objective of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Justice Idiong argued that although the courts were enjoined to apply, administer and give effects to the custom and tradition of the people of its area of jurisdiction, it did not have to apply customs that were unreasonable, discriminatory and an affront to the law.
He further held that the custom of the people of Edem Ekpat in particular and Etinan Local Government Area in general, denying a woman the right to inherit intestate property of parents or siblings, where the deceased died without a male child, debased such a woman and contravened Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution.
The Judge also disagreed with the Village Head of Edem Ekpat, Chief Emmanuel Okokon Eboh, who had testified as a witness that when a woman died in Edem Ekpat without a child or husband, her property reverted to her family and not her sister, married out to another family.
Justice Idiong commended the trial District Court in Etinan for refusing to uphold such offensive customs and the appellate Chief Magistrate Court, for upholding the decision of the lower court.
The higher court declared that the native laws, discriminating against women, whether married or not, were nullities and unenforceable throughout Etinan Local Government Area.
Justice Idiong dismissed the appeal with cost awarded against the eight siblings, including two married sisters, who joined their brothers to deny their married Aunt the right to inherit the landed property of her only sister.
