Asia Ahmed & Co.

"As a result of our underdevelopment, and a cure for same, a gender perspective to human rights is imperative. Of course, with a predominantly illiterate and uncritical traditional society, getting women's rights to get the attention they deserve in Nigeria will require more than guts. It will require great guts capable of taking on not just the natural opposition to change but the opprobrium of a largely traditionalist “male chauvinist” society which will naturally be reluctant, indeed indignant at being asked, to abandon its chauvinist privileges. It will not be easy or quick. But certainly, shouting from the roof tops that the practice of demanding, paying and/or accepting bride price is a human rights violation – and doing so with all the angst appropriate only to an indignant prophet facing a hostile audience – may, after all, not be a bad place or way to start." There goes the concluding paragraph in an incisive, insightful and inspiring article titled: Is the Payment of Bride-Price Not a Human Rights Issue? It's written by Chibueze C. Okorie, Esq. The author explored deeper and wider perspectives than I did in Reuben v. Reuben (2024) (https://lnkd.in/dPUpJ6rB). Here's a copy. 📥 #law #womensright #humanrights #brideprice #matrimonialcause

4 Takeaways from Chief Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu's "Remarriage" Ceremony 1. Relationship with husband's family under customary law It is not uncommon that a widow will desire to remain in her husband's house and continually live with the members of his family, people that have become her family over the years. It is a beautiful thing to see such cordial relationship between families united by customary marriage. 2. Peculiarity of customary marriage ceremony - In every custom exists a procedure for a widow to remain in her husband's house. While she may be allowed to remarry with conditions, she may also be allowed to continue living in her matrimonial home with their children (if any). The Mgbafu Mgbe rite for widow performed at Umuikea Emeabiam Community, as explained by the family, fits into the second scenario. (See news item no.1). 3. Fallacy of assuming the existence of a general marriage customary - When the news of the "remarriage" broke out, some commentators were critical of the ceremony opining that it did not comply with the requirements of a customary marriage. Such statements were obviously premised on the presumption of the uniformity of customary practices across tribal or ethnic groups. Nothing is as fallacious as such an assumption. Custom is so peculiar to a group of people to the extent that even among the same ethnic group within the same area, variations in a practice is not uncommon. Therefore, a person from Ikeja has no legal standing to dictate to a person in Nnewi, Katsina-Ala or Maiduguri what their customary practice is. Apart from not being fallacious, the assumption of the existence of a uniform practice among all ethnicities negates one of the essences of customary law: non-uniformity. 4. Validity of a customary marriage Many commentators opined that the elements of a valid customary marriage were absent in the ceremony performed at Umuikea Emeabiam Community. It is apparent that they were xraying the "marriage" ceremony through the lens of their custom and on the assumption of the existence of a general marriage custom with trite features. But as Prof. Odinkalu said in the 3rd news item: "marriage is a relationship between the parties to it and between family & peoples too." So, whatever the components and nature of the ceremony performed at Umuikea Emeabiam Community by the two families, even if they tag it "marriage rites", that is what it is. No one, not even the Court, can dig into the nature of the ceremony performed and rule that it does not constitute a valid marriage. More importantly, a widow's decision ought to be respected. She knows best what steps to take to deepen her relationship with her in-laws and also protect the interest of her children. References are in the Comments. #law #custom #customarylaw #customarymarriage #widowsrights 📷: Law&Society

I was in court last week Thursday for a criminal trial. So, while patiently waiting for my matter, I listened to a judgment striking out an undefended civil suit. Note: this suit had passed the test of a full-blown trial. ...and one would ordinarily not expect the court to strike it out just like that. I mean, after all the time and effort put into the matter by counsel🤷♀️ What was the matter all about? So, while the court was reading the judgment, I was able to decipher that the matter was for recovery of premises from a tenant (a simple matter) Furthermore, from the judgment, I understood that the Claimant, after stating that the Tenant/Defendant was a yearly tenant in some paragraphs of his depositions, proceeded in other paragraphs to state that the Tenant was a half-yearly tenant 🤷♀️. This error was not overlooked by the court. Moreso, from the judgment, I got to understand that during the trial, the Claimant relied on a previously issued one-year receipt and a six-month receipt respectively. This error was also not overlooked by the court. The court stated that from the oral and documentary evidence adduced by the Claimant, there was a grave discrepancy that affected the substance of the suit. Even though the suit was undefended, the onus was on the Claimant to prove his case. This, the Claimant failed to do🤷♀️ The Claimant failed to prove nuisance, as also alleged. The court admonished the Claimant to always rest on the strength of his case and not on the weakness or absence of the Defendant. (obviously, the Claimant was resting on the absence of the Defendant) Conclusively, the court was reluctant to attach significance to the oral and documentary evidence of the Claimant and accordingly struck out the suit. After the reading of the judgment, I saw the Claimant’s counsel leaving the courtroom sad. Dear Litigators, No one, indeed, loves to lose a case but like I always say, the success or failure of a case begins from how you draft the pleadings. From the judgment of the court, I re-learned the following: 👍To embrace the act of legal research: Once you are engaged to handle any matter, research very well about the subject before drafting your pleadings. 👍To avoid the act of copying and pasting: Collapse the idea of asking for templates that you'll copy and paste from. Such an act ruins beautiful pleadings. 👍To seek legal guidance from experienced colleagues: You can ask your colleagues questions and gain insights on how to draft pleadings. This helps a lot. 👍To know my strengths: Litigation is a serious business. So, know your strengths and limit your capabilities to your strengths while learning to know more. 👍To know my weakness: You can't know it all. get support in your weakest areas so that you don't lose your client's confidence. 👍To keep learning: Learning never ends. You must learn, re-learn and unlearn. These help you move with the trend. Hope this helps someone #litigation #Jddlaw