REVISITING THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT CASE OF UKEJE V UKEJE VIS A VIZ IGBO CUSTOMARY LAW

ABSTRACT

This research study borders on examining the discriminations that women in Igboland face as regards the acquisition of property and inheritance of same upon death of their husband or father. It is a settled fact that women would grievously suffer from various inequalities and discrimination. So the Supreme Court in the case of ukeje v ukeje held that any customary law which says or tends to suggest that a female child cannot inherit the property of her father is not only unconstitutional but also null and void.In an attempt to identify the problems of gender discrimination of women's right to inheritance under Igbo customary law are due to some factors which include non-codification of customary laws,illiteracy,limitating the right of women in and out of marriage due to obnoxious custom. The research is an attempt to identify those laws that discriminate against women from inheritance within the Igbo customary law which the law intends to wipe our through effective and legal means.This will be done by a critical analysis of the celebrated case of ukeje v ukeje and other legislative enactments and Judicial decisions, information gathered from researches and authors. The findings are that with the recent judicial decisions and our legislations,these obnoxious custom can be scrapped out entirely in Igboland. In achieving this,the researcher adopted doctrinal and approach. It relies on primary and secondary sources of gathering material l. Therefore, This work recommend the need for free legal services and advice as regards property rights should be made available to women in Anambra State to enable them protect and enforce their property rights. This could be achieved by targeting strategic places like churches, markets and rural areas which have large population of women who are not educated. Also there is need for improvement and enforcement of our laws on women's right to inheritance. Recommendations are made and if followed will help liberate women from the shackles of property rights deprivation.