The Lagos State Administrator-General and Public Trustee, Mrs. Rotimi, has expressed dissatisfaction towards ill-treatment of widows, warning that the State Government will not tolerate any form of abuse directed at widows in any part of the State.
Speaking on a Traffic Radio programme, “Your Side Mirror”, Mrs. Rotimi said that the era when family members forcibly evict widows out of their husband’s property, cutting them off from family businesses and subjecting them to all forms of debasing cultural practices is over in Lagos State.
The Administrator-General lamented the rise in the spate of abuse against widows in the country, noting that not only are widows (who are statutorily married) entitled to one-third of their late husband’s estate but that even female children have as much right to inheritance as their male counterpart.
While also describing the practice of disinheriting female children as unlawful, Rotimi called on widows to know their rights and seek redress when those rights are infringed upon by contacting the Office of the Administrator-General and Public Trustee in the Ministry of Justice.
“Any widow in Lagos State that the husband died without writing a will and his family wants to deny her and the children their rights or evict them out of the family house should contact the office of the Administrator-General and Public Trustee, which will intervene to ensure that the right beneficiaries have quick access to their inheritance”, the Administrator-General declared.
She further warned the perpetrators of violence against widows to desist or be ready to face the full wrath of the law, adding that the idea of some people hiding under the guise of culture to maltreat a widow is against the law of the State and will no longer be tolerated.
