ABSTRACT

The study evaluates how the court’s engage the issue of forced eviction of women within the intestate succession context in Nigeria. Often the death of a husband or father in Nigeria comes with the question of distribution of his properties as well as succession to his offices, dignities and honour. Due to cultural structures particularly those that support parthriachy and patrilineal patterns of property holding, women may become victims of forced eviction from their matrimonial home and other properties which she may have enjoyed while her husband was alive. The same problem may confront female children. This social problem continues in succession settings whether the marriage contracted between the woman and her husband is under customary law or the Marriage Act. While there are remedies under the constitution, statutes and general principles of private law, this study assesses the extent to which the courts have engaged the right against forced eviction under these legal platforms. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Section 44(1) provides that ‘No moveable property or any interest in an immovable property shall be taken possession of compulsorily and no right over or interest in any such property shall be acquired compulsorily in any part of Nigeria except in the manner and for the purposes prescribed by a law, among other things.  

The study expects to find that the right against forced eviction is an internationally recognized human right and to some extent is constitutionally and statutorily protected in Nigeria. The cases indicates that while the courts frown against forced eviction in the succession contexts, they appear to favour a cross – cultural dialogue in the adjudication of this right, so that rights are circumscribed by cultural structures and models.

An in-depth study and research done on this long essay brings us to the conclusion that though the courts have stepped in to savage the issue of outright discrimination of women and Forced Eviction from their matrimonial homes after the demise of their husbands judging from the recent decisions of the Supreme Court in the cases of Mojekwu v. Mojekwu, Okonkwo v. Okonwo and Anekwe v. Nweke, the issue of forced eviction still leaves more to be desired.These judgments no doubt are laudable in all rights because it has been able to bring to fore and interpret section 42(2) of the 1999 Constitution which prohibits discrimination in all fours. However, the implementation of these judgments still pose a threat to the victory of the judiciary over non-discrimination of women and forced Eviction. A lot of women till date still do not know their rights as provided for in the Constitution and as a result are unable to approach the courts to seek redress even in the face of injustice. This work concludes that though the legal framework has been put in place by our statutory and judicial pronouncements, a lot of women still suffer discrimination from proprietary interest in their deceased husband’s properties and eventually get to be evicted from same.