"I and my children were beaten and kicked out of our house by the
brothers-in-law. We live by begging, in continual fear"
Widow's Stories
Mrs Ani ( from WiDO - Nigeria)
This story was pieced together over time by WiDO as they tried to help Mrs.Ani in her battle with the dreadful brother in law.
Mrs Ani was widowed in March 2003 when she was 30. Her husband, who was not on good terms with his father and brother, had died from a long illness during the course of which they ignored him totally and didn’t contribute anything to his medical costs. Before his death, he instructed his wife, in the presence of two witnesses, that should he die, his car - parked in church premises for safe keeping - should be sold and the money used to pay off his high medical bills.
Immediately he died his father and brother came to the house and seized all her husband’s property – but not the car. As soon as he was buried they ordered Mrs. Ani to leave the matrimonial home and go back to her parents. She told them of the N150,000 hospital bill which had yet to be paid. They ignored her and told her to leave which she did at the end of April 2003.
Ever since Mrs. Ani has been harassed by her husband’s brother Mabuabuchi.
In December 2003 he accused her of stealing property and money worth N70,000,
and she and her mother ended up in gaol. In her words “My late husband’s
brother also claimed that my husband’s will was in his favour alone.
The police summoned us and after going through the will, the Police did not
agree with him and advised him to take the matter to the court of law.” After
court session, Mr. Maduabuchi accosted Mrs. Ani at her mother’s shop
and threatened them in the presence of her mother’s trading neighbours.
He demanded she give him the car and said he had a will signed by his brother
in which the car was given to him. Mrs. Ani was distraught because she needed
to sell the car to pay for the hospital bills.
He then wrote another petition against her, alleging that she and her mother had beaten him up. The police detained him at the Area Command on the charge of making frivolous claims. He was however given bail and continued to threaten Mrs. Ani and her mother both physically and also by alleging that she and her mother had assaulted him, and that her brothers had stolen N30,000 from him. The police again found this to be untrue.
Mrs. Ani went with her mother to her father-in-law to refund the Bride Price paid by her husband, so that she could remarry in the future. He however refused to accept it saying that as he was not in good terms with his son before he died, he would not touch anything that belonged to him.
Maduabuchi however continued to claim his dead brother’s car and again
took Mrs. Ani to court, but after a number of adjournments of the case, the
car was released to her. He then demanded that the court issue a warrant so
that he could retrieve the car. The Court ruled that both parties should maintain
the peace and warned him that he could be charged for making false allegations
concerning the car. 
In August 2004 Mrs. Ani went to yet another hearing of a case Maduabuchi had brought against her for theft. He did not appear at the hearing so the case was adjourned, but while she was waiting for the date of next hearing he came in with a policeman from the State CID. The policeman arrested her for stealing a fridge, radio cassette and some money from him. The magistrate, who was about to leave the court, told the policeman to let her go as the case was already in the court. Nonetheless, the police detained her for three days demanding N5,000 for bail. The charge included stealing a panel van and a bus, an 18” TV set, a Korean radio cassette player, and a big fridge. When the police searched her home they found a 14” TV set and a small fridge but Maduabuchi then pointed to a baby bed and stabilizer which the police took but later released.
By the end of September Mrs. Ani, who had just had a baby, heard that Area Command had instructed the State CID not to get involved in the case, and that they have charged Maduabuchi with making false allegations. Maduabuchi remains defiant and has threatened to go to yet another police station to report the case.
Analysis: the case clearly shows up the problem of the ways in which men can use their influence or just bribe the police so as to continue harassing a widow, in the hope that she will just give up any claim to her or her late husband’s property which is rightfully hers. Individual policeman are complicit in the hope that they too will benefit from her despoilment. Her situation was also difficult as she was childless and therefore her husband’s family had paid, in their terms, bride wealth for nothing. Despite this her father-on-law refused to accept her offer to return the bride wealth thereby making it difficult for her to remarry.