Two days ago, I shared the news about Supreme Court voiding the Igbo law and custom, which forbids a female from inheriting her late father’s properties, on the grounds that it is discriminatory and conflicts with section 42(1)(a) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution.
I had intended to let people who rejoice when such gender discriminating acts are dethroned, know that they are also being feministic, hence everyone should understand that this fight is not about the label but about upholding the idea of equality of gender. However what I saw in my comment section, shook me till my teeth rattled.
Let me share some excerpts：
“Come try am for my village naa make I see... So a woman will partake in the splitting of my father's property, and now go to her husband's place with it... If I hear....”
The only time a woman is supposed to inherit any property in her fathers house is if she didn't marry you people should stop this bickering about gender equality crap, are you people wiser than God, who made man first, and made woman out of man.
Women to inherit property in Igbo land? Women are supposed to be married to their husbands and not to seek their fathers properties.
What may surprise you, is that what these men find absurd is the fact that their own “sisters”, not an outsider, can inherit properties from their father. These things were written in clear cut English language, the kind you learn from school, showing you that these are not some local champions. And I can't begin to even put to words how sad it feels reading those lines.
Before I make my point, let me share this story with you. Late Prof Dora Akunyili, one time Minister of information and a former DG of NAFDAC, hailed from Nanka, a town close to mine and was married to a man from Agulu, another town just next to mine. During a visit to Nanka few years back, the discussion that went on where we sat, was that Late Prof. Dora Akunyili had done nothing for her Nanka people at that time, and how that was so bad of her （It was later said that she remembered “her people” years later）. I remember walking out of that place wondering why they would make such hasty judgements about a woman I once adored. I wished they would give her more time to meet up with their expectation before reaching such conclusions about her since she had only just risen to prominence at that time.
I will admit to also believing that she ought to have done something for her people, not for any other reason but just because she was expected to. Don't blame me, I was just a teenager and still had the Nigerian entitlement mentality.
Late Dora was not the only Igbo female expected to bring returns to her people. Many Igbo females remain key burden bearers in their parent's families even after marriage. One of the major reasons a typical Anambra man would want his daughter to marry from Anambra state and nowhere else, is the fact that there is a common understanding that the Igbo woman is to be catered to by her husband, and this by extension, includes catering to her family. That is why my people say that “Ogo bu chi onye”, which can be loosely translated to “in-laws are like your gods” （I stand to be corrected please）.
It however baffles me, that this same female child who brings in the 'ogo' and who despite being married, is expected to be actively involved in shouldering family responsibilities, does not have the right to also inherit family properties in a typical igbo setting， and according to the Igbo customary law passionately upheld by our brothers. Does this not baffle you？ Goes it not irk you that someone can sow but not real？ For all things to be fair, if your sister cannot benefit from the family wealth/properties, just because she is married and should not carry your father's wealth to her husband's place, then such a sister must also stick to her marriage and not transfer her husband's wealth to her family. And everyone should be happy about that too.
I had always thought that this was a Nigerian thing until I moved to Abuja and had to stay with yoruba girlfriend, who is the only child of her parents. When her father died, none of her father's numerous brothers ever came to drag properties with her. Believe me, the father had lots of properties, about four houses and many landed assets, as well as cars. I went with her on some occasions to enquire about the father's benefits from his place of work, the two of us alone. She was involved in the burial plans, the meetings with the kindred's and she even had the final say. Those elderly men always consulted this young lady who is in her twenties, before any decision. I was at that burial myself and I couldn't believe how no body troubled her about anything relating to those properties. Before her marriage I stayed with her in her father's house, just the two of us, till I moved out to my own place. Today she is married to a non-yoruba man and her inheritance are not under threat.
Granted, each tribe or ethnic group has its own weird cultures, and what may be forbidden in a place may be acceptable in another. But I believe good things are worthy of emulation. Not only is denying a child the right to inherit her father's wealth against the laws of the nation, it is also not in line with the Gospel of Christ which tells us that so long as one is reconciled to God, God has no preference of gender or race or nation as was seen before （Gal3：28）！
Don't get stuck in the B.C's dear brothers, we have moved on to A.D 2018. Even in the B.Cs, women were allowed to inherit lands from their father, they were only not allowed to transfer it to their husband if the man is from another tribe, so as not to weaken the social structure of the people. But we are way past that era people. How do you even call yourself a Christian and still fight over such things？ Such things should be too shameful to be uttered by anyone in this era.
Thankfully, some Igbo men even before the popularity of gender-equality advocacy, saw their children all as equals and handed them properties without gender discrimination. I have seen a rich man do this while growing up, and my own father is also an example. In fact, My elderly aunt married to a man in another town has always had her own portion of land in my town, where she does whatever she wishes. This is why I am drop-dead surprise that younger and more educated men, are fighting against the possibility of their sisters sharing in their parent's heritage. I can only wonder what the locals who have not seen the streetlights of an urban town would do.
I want to encourage any one who is joining this revolution and calling out gender discrimination, please do not stop. Laws made by men are revoked by men too. No man-made law is permanent, that is why even national constitutions undergo reviews. So do not stop, one day political, social as well as economical gender discrimination, will be a thing of the past. Someday, there will be equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of a person's gender. I don't know when it will be, but if not for our sake, let's do this for posterity.