AWKA, Nigeria – The Anambra State Government has initiated comprehensive legal enforcement mechanisms to prosecute individuals, families, and customary authorities who deny women and girls their statutory right to inherit family property, directing the Nigeria Police Force to investigate reported violations and transmit case files directly to the state for criminal trial, judicial and legal affairs correspondents reported from Awka on Tuesday afternoon, September 29, 2026.
The directive was conveyed in an official memorandum personally executed by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Anambra State, Tobechukwu Nweke, SAN, and made available to newsmen following consultations with state law enforcement leadership.
Okay News reports that the chief law officer warned that the entrenched customary practice of disinheriting female children and widows on the basis of gender constitutes a severe criminal infraction rather than a mere civil disagreement, rendering offenders liable to custodial sentences under the state’s criminal statutes.
In the official letter addressed to the Anambra State Police Command, Nweke stated that the obnoxious customary practice of excluding females from property inheritance violates Section 22 of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law, 2017, of Anambra State, which prescribes penalties of up to four years imprisonment, statutory fines, or both upon conviction.
The Attorney-General mandated divisional police officers and specialized investigative units across the state’s 21 local government areas to promptly entertain complaints from aggrieved female citizens, conduct thorough investigations, and forward duplicate dockets to the Ministry of Justice for immediate prosecution before the High Court.
The executive action operationalizes long-standing constitutional principles and judicial precedents laid down by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, including the landmark judgments in Mojekwu v. Mojekwu and Ukeje v. Ukeje, where the apex court unequivocally held that customary traditions that disinherit women and female offspring violate Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which prohibits discrimination on grounds of sex.
Legal analysts noted that while superior courts have consistently nullified customary disinheritance rules across southern Nigeria, practical enforcement has historically been hampered by victims’ lack of access to legal representation and social pressure from extended families.
By transforming female inheritance denial into an actively investigated and state-prosecuted criminal offense under the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) framework, the Anambra State Government aims to dismantle discriminatory patriarchy and provide direct protection to vulnerable widows and female orphans.
The Ministry of Justice reiterated its call to human rights organizations, civil society groups, traditional rulers, and residents to report incidents of property deprivation to law enforcement authorities, affirming the administration’s resolve to secure property equity across all communities in the state.
