The Anambra State Government has warned that people who prevent women and girls from inheriting property simply because of their gender could face prosecution and up to four years in prison.
The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Tobechukwu Nweke, SAN, said the move was part of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s administration’s efforts to protect women’s rights to inheritance.
Nweke disclosed that the government had directed the Nigeria Police Force to investigate complaints involving gender-based disinheritance and forward completed case files to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution.
In a letter to the police, the Attorney General instructed officers to thoroughly investigate reported cases and transmit the relevant files to his office once investigations are concluded.
He said legal action would be taken against offenders after the cases were properly investigated.
Nweke explained that denying women or girls the right to inherit property because they are female is punishable under Anambra State law.
“The obnoxious practices of denying women and girls of their right to inherit property because they are females amount to a crime under Section 22 of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law, 2017 of Anambra State and punishable with up to four years imprisonment,” he said.
The Ministry of Justice has also designated its Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) Unit to prosecute cases involving gender-based disinheritance.
According to Nweke, the unit will handle such prosecutions alongside other cases involving domestic violence and sexual offences.
The warning comes amid continued reports of female children being denied access to properties left by their parents because of customs and traditional practices in some parts of the South-East.
Such practices have remained a subject of legal disputes despite previous Supreme Court decisions rejecting customs that prevent women from inheriting property on the basis of their gender.
The state government’s latest directive means complaints of gender-based disinheritance can now be investigated by the police and referred to the Ministry of Justice for possible prosecution under the state’s Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law.
The move is aimed at strengthening enforcement of women’s property and inheritance rights and addressing practices that discriminate against women and girls.
Source: NAN.
