…orders cousins to hands off her late father’s property
In pursuance of Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution on the right to freedom from discrimination, the National Human Rights Commission in Ebonyi State has succeeded in retrieving 34 plots of land belonging to a female child from her male relatives, who deprived her access to it for many years.
Nneka Nwifuru, a native of Abofia in Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, and the only child of her parents, was deprived of her land inheritance because she is a female and had no male siblings before her father’s death.
Nneka said, prior to the intervention of the NHRC, her relatives subjected her and her old mother to all forms of humiliation and deprivations, including disallowing her from selling a plot of the land to erect a building for her mother, who was living in a dilapidated house.
Narrating her experience, she said, “I got to know about the National Human Rights Commission when they came for awareness campaign programme in Abofia. Then, they said anybody or group of persons being maltreated or humiliated for any reason should not hesitate to inform the Commission any time. I ran to them to complain, and after my complaints, they wrote my uncles and cousins, who had already collected most of my inheritance, inviting them to their office. After hearing from them too, NHRC asked them to quit those plots of land with immediate effect and they agreed. It was put into writing and they signed a document prepared by the National Human Rights Commission, stating that they would not contest my inheritance with me again.
“Jude Atuma and Ebuka Atuma are my cousins. My father was their Father’s elder brother and while he was alive, he stayed in the most interior part of Abofia, and when Abofia started selling their community land to people, my father was no longer alive to sell his own.”
She added, “I asked them to sell two plots of land from my father’s land to enable me to use the proceeds to build a house for my mother, they refused, saying it was against the tradition because of my gender. My mother is still alive, and with the help of NHRC, I have built the house for her because they agreed to hands off my inheritance. But they have continued to say the judgement of the NHCR would later not stand because of our tradition.
“My cousins have been cultivating on those lands; they said they did not have a problem with that, but each time I say I want to sell any part of it, they will object. When I reported the matter to our traditional ruler and other chiefs of our community, they ended up saying I was a girl child and that I did not have the right to inherit anything from my father.”
According to her, she was directed to the NHCR for assistance. “To the glory of God, after the NHRC intervened, I got surveyors to survey those plots for me and all the documents of the land now bear my name, Nneka Nwifuru. I want to thank the National Human Rights Commission for their intervention. May God bless them for supporting a poor girl like me,” she said.
“And I want to tell my fellow women to be strong and always report their matters to NHCR in a case like my own or anytime their rights are being violated. The Commission is always ready to support you to the fullest, free of charge,” she added.
On his part, the Abofia Development Union President, Mathew Nwogbaga, who is in support of the invalidation of the Igbo customary deprivation of rights of inheritance for females, thanked the commission for the great height and encouraged other females to speak up for justice to prevail.
