The Imperatives to Absolute Primogeniture Rules under the Bini Customary Law of Succession

Abstract

Under the Bini Customary Law of succession, a female child is not entitle to the right to inherit the ‘Igiogbe’ of her father, which is the principal house where the deceased lived and died.The ‘Igiogbe’ is the exclusive right of the deceased eldest survival son. In respective of his age, he must inherit the principal house of his deceased father, provided he has performed the first and second burial ceremony of his late father. The daughters of the deceased are only entitled to reminants. This rule, though has survived for centuries, it is an affront to the rights of the female daughters who through section 42(1) of the 1999 constitution (as amended) has the right to the same position of the male surviving son of the deceased. The discriminatory primogeniture of the Bini Law of succession is a violation of human rights of several international covenants which Nigeria has ratified and domesticated, among which are Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) European charter for equality of women and men in local life, Convention on the political rights of women, African protocol on women’s rights etc.