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

Emokpae, Lugard A.

dc.contributor.author	Emokpae, Lugard A.
dc.date.accessioned	2024-10-10T09:50:41Z
dc.date.available	2024-10-10T09:50:41Z
dc.date.issued	2023-11-13
dc.identifier.issn	3027-0650
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/637
dc.description	The Binis are one of the ethnic minor tribes in Nigeria, they are concentrated in several local governments of Edo State with a paramount king, (the Oba), residing at the state capital, Benin City. Benin Kingdom formerly known as Igodomigodo’, (the city of Blood) is one of the oldest, developed along the coastal hinterland of the Nigeria Niger Delta region. The Oba is the custodian of the people’s tradition and custom. The present Oba, Oba Ewuare II is the 40th monarch that has ruled the Kingdom from the inception of the Obaship.The Kingdom is the remainants of the old Ogiso dynasty, in which two of the Ogisos were women. However, it is noted that in 1440 AD Oba Ewuare I (the great) also known as Ogidigan, introduced a lot Of innovations to the Kingdom, he reduced the powers of the Uzama Chiefs to appointing the Oba into the throne, he adopted the primogeniture lineage system which posits that upon the death of the Oba the eldest surviving son shall take over the Kingdom of his father with a condition that he had observed the necessary funeral obsequies.Then the first surviving son would automatically step into the position of his late father. Primogeniture rules ensures that property remain intact and in a familial line.Some of the earliest references to primogeniture are traceable to the ancient Greek, Romans and Egyptians, the practice was introduced to England following the introduction of Feudalism by the Normans in the 11th century. It is the right of every first born to inheritance of a deceased parents and also a right to the throne of a deceased father.	en_US
dc.description.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.	en_US
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.publisher	[College of Law, Igbinedion University Okada]	en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries	American University of Nigeria, 1st International Conference Proceeding;
dc.title	The Imperatives to Absolute Primogeniture Rules under the Bini Customary Law of Succession	en_US
dc.type	Article	en_US