Anambra Orders Police Probe, Prosecution of Those Denying Women Inheritance
The Anambra State Government has instructed the Nigeria Police Force to look into complaints where women and girls are refused the right to inherit property, and to send the resulting case files to the state Attorney-General's Office so that offenders can be prosecuted.
Tobechukwu Nweke, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and the state's Attorney-General, made this known in a letter he signed and addressed to the Nigeria Police Force. Journalists obtained a copy of the letter on Tuesday.
Nweke explained that the directive is meant to address situations in which female children and women are shut out of inheriting what their parents owned, with customs and traditional practices often cited as the reason.
He noted that the discriminatory practice is still found in certain communities, even though the Supreme Court has in several rulings held that customs barring females from inheriting property are unconstitutional and unlawful.
The Attorney-General added that preventing women and girls from inheriting because of their gender is an offence under Section 22 of Anambra State's Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law, 2017.
According to him, those convicted under that law risk a prison term of as much as four years.
In the letter, Nweke asked the police to carry out a thorough investigation into every reported case of gender-based disinheritance and to transmit the relevant case files to his ministry for further legal steps.
The letter stated: "In light of the foregoing, you are kindly requested to ensure that your office thoroughly investigates all reported cases of gender-based disinheritance and that the case files are transmitted to this Ministry for further action."
Nweke also disclosed that the ministry's Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Unit has been assigned to prosecute those who engage in the practice.
"To effectively combat this practice, this Ministry has designated the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Unit to handle the prosecution of offenders under the above-mentioned law, alongside other forms of domestic violence and sexual offences," he said.
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