Nigeria
Muojekwo & Ors v Ejikeme & Ors, (December 9, 1999)
Court of Appeal (Enugu)
Keywords: Discrimination-Gender/Sex
Brief Summary: R died intestate in 1996 without any surviving children. The appellants were R's two great grandsons, and his granddaughter, the third appellant. The granddaughter was born to R's daughter V and the great grandsons were born to V's two daughters. The appellants claimed that the Nnewe custom of Nrachi had been performed for V and accordingly the appellants were entitled to inherit R's property. The Nrachi custom enabled a man to keep one of his daughters perpetually unmarried under his roof in order to raise children, especially males, to succeed him. Any such daughter took the position of a man in the father's house and was entitled to inherit her father's property, and any children born to the woman would automatically be part of the father's household and accordingly entitled to inherit. A different custom, Ili-Ekpe, provided that where a man has no surviving male issue, including the daughter in respect of whom Nrachi was performed, and her children, the man's brother or his male issue are entitled to inherit. The respondents, five male members of R's brother's family, claimed that Nrachi was performed for V's sister C, who had died childless, and not V. They contended that when C died R's family lineage became extinct, and they, rather than the appellants, should inherit R's property. The legal action began when the respondents, without the appellants' permission, entered the compound once belonging to R. The appellants laid claim to a statutory right of occupancy over R's estate and requested an injunction restraining the respondents from trespassing.
CEDAW: Article 5 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) calls on States Parties to modify social and cultural patterns of conduct in order to eliminate prejudices, customs and practices based on the inferiority or superiority of either sex. V is a victim of such prejudices.