Woman Assaulted, Abducted, Forced Into Enugu Psychiatric Hospital For Demanding Family Inheritance, WACOL Raises Alarm | Sahara Reporters

The organisation said her case is not an isolated incident but part of what it described as an epidemic of women disinheritance across Nigeria, a coordinated attack on the economic survival of Nigerian women.

A Nigerian woman who dared to demand her right to inherit family property was assaulted, abducted, falsely imprisoned, and forcibly medicated at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Enugu, the Women’s Aid Collective (WACOL) revealed at a press conference on Wednesday.

Miss Oge, from Umungwuotowo Village in Obe Agbor, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, was subjected to the ordeal over her demand for inheritance. She later escaped the psychiatric hospital to tell her story, WACOL said.

“Over inheritance rights demand, she was assaulted by Obe-Agbor Community Task Force, abducted, falsely imprisoned, and forced into medication at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Enugu,” said Bethel Izugwu, Senior Communication Officer of WACOL. “She boldly escaped that hospital to tell her story.”

Her crime, according to WACOL, was seeking what is legally hers. The organisation said her case is not an isolated incident but part of what it described as an epidemic of women disinheritance across Nigeria, a coordinated attack on the economic survival of Nigerian women.

At the press conference, held under the theme “66 Years After Independence, Nigerian Women Still Fight for Land, Home, and Inheritance,” WACOL presented testimonies and video evidence of women who have been stripped of their homes, land, and livelihoods by relatives hiding behind custom and tradition.

Among them was Mrs. Ekwutosi Ezeonyekwere, a widow from Umuchu in Anambra State, who was locked out of her late husband’s shops, had his land sold without her consent, and was subjected to a “post-humous divorce”, a traditional rite performed in her father’s house asking her to leave her husband’s home despite having a son with him.

According to the organisation, a widow, Mrs. Nebo from Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State was locked out of her family home by her stepson, had her husband’s ATM seized, and was issued a fake divorce letter on behalf of her deceased husband warning her not to attend his burial. WACOL secured a court injunction that reversed the situation.

Also, Mrs. Odo was disinherited by her own second son, a pattern WACOL said is becoming common, where sons sell off family land and economic crops without regard for their mothers’ welfare or opinion. The woman, who hails from Ehamufu in Enugu State, and attended the press conference, had her father’s house, which she reportedly built, targeted for demolition by her uncles, who seized her land because she is female and married.

“These are not isolated incidents. Women disinheritance is an epidemic,” Izugwu said. “They are a coordinated attack on the economic survival of Nigerian women.”

Prof. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo (OON, SAN), WACOL’s Founding Executive Director, who joined the press conference via Zoom from the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said the South East remains the worst region for women’s inheritance rights in Nigeria.

“If you look at inheritance and succession rights issues in Nigeria, you will find that the South East is worst off in terms of lack of ability of women, whether as wife or as daughter, to inherit from the estate of their deceased father or the estate of their deceased husband,” Ezeilo said.

“This contributes to violence, and not just violence, to extreme poverty of women and children deprived of inheritance that could be a lifeline to their getting the education of their choice, to their getting the kind of capital they need to create wealth.”

She noted that while the Supreme Court of Nigeria has decisively ruled against discriminatory inheritance practices, there remains a disconnect between the law on the books and the law in action.

“Even when they are aware of the judgment, they are so reluctant, and they are holding tenaciously to customs and practices, our customary laws. And that’s what has put women and girls at a disadvantage.”

WACOL laid out the legal framework that makes these acts illegal. Section 42(1) of the 1999 Constitution explicitly prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that any customary law that conflicts with the Constitution is null and void.

In Ukeje v. Ukeje (2014), the Supreme Court annulled the Igbo customary law that disentitled female children from inheriting their father’s estate.

In Anekwe v. Nweke (2014), the Court described customs that disinherit daughters or widows as “punitive, uncivilised and only intended to protect the selfish perpetration of male dominance.”

Similarly, in Mojekwu v. Mojekwu (1997), the Court of Appeal held that the Oli-ekpe custom, which excluded women from inheritance, was repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience.

“What is happening to these women is illegal,” WACOL said. “The concept of a ‘post-humous divorce’ is a legal fiction and a gross violation of human rights. The forced institutionalisation of women to steal their property is not a family dispute, it is a violent crime.”

As Nigeria turns 66, WACOL issued a series of demands to duty bearers.

It called on community leaders and Igwe (traditional rulership) cabinets to actively and publicly abolish discriminatory cultural practices in their domains, saying “tradition should elevate a community, not enslave its daughters.”

It urged law enforcement agencies to stop dismissing disinheritance, forceful eviction, and associated physical violence as “family matters” and to arrest, investigate, and prosecute perpetrators.

It also demanded that the judiciary and government urgently expedite gender-based violence and inheritance cases, and that the National Assembly enact a formal law on inheritance rights.

It called on state governments to follow the example of Anambra State, which recently announced it would prosecute cases of disinheritance. WACOL further urged the Nigerian government to ratify the African Union Convention on Violence Against Women, which protects women’s inheritance rights.

Prof. Ezeilo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and law professor, reiterated her personal commitment to pro bono human rights cases and to ensuring free legal aid for women, vulnerable children, and persons with disability.

“At 66, Nigerian women should walk high, their shoulders high, and have equal rights to equal inheritance, to land, to housing, to everything that is due to them as full citizens of Nigeria in a democratic state,” she said. “Progress for women is progress for Nigerian men.”

WACOL said it has recorded over 3,000 cases of women disinheritance, with more than 120 cases in 2026 alone. Until every Nigerian woman is economically secure and legally protected in her own home, the organisation said, its fight continues.