Permanent Settlement

Of The Issue Of

Division Of The Family Inheritance

Introduction

The issue of division of the family house has being a recurrent matter. Many a times, the issue is repeated amidst anger, quarrels, misunderstandings, and threats leading to fights. It has got to the stage that on several occasions, noise or fight from the house is heard in the neighbourhood, during the day and at night.

Ways Of Sharing Family Properties

Two ways of sharing family properties are the Igbo custom and tradition. The other one is what God said in the bible.

By Igbo Custom And Tradition

According to the Igbo culture, the first son has the following:

1. The obi or palace.

2. The open space in front the house.

3. The storehouse called oba ji, which is the section behind the house, where Ugo and Dimma are rearing goats and chicken. That was where our father’s oba ji was.

4. In some cases, the whole family house belongs to him, but he allows the other sons to stay until they build their own houses.

5. Other entitlements according to tradition.

The last son has the following:

1. The mkpuke, now called kitchen.

2. And the backyard.

In our family house, the only mkpuke is the one room kitchen and the inner storeroom beside it. The backyard is so little and narrow that a wise man would ask for piece of land outside, which will serve him better than living a very narrow space.

The either sons in-between the first son and the last sons, are first given their own land portions, called ala obi, for the building their our houses.

At last, all the remaining other properties, including lands, money, investments, etc are shared equally among all the sons in the family. Or, as the father decides to share according to his own will.

The conclusion of this method is that this Igbo custom and tradition was not used in sharing.

The Biblical Method

As stated in the bible, God said that the first shall have double portion, while the other sons have one portion each. In that case, if the other sons received 1 million each, the first son shall receive two million.

The conclusion of the matter, according to the biblical method, is that this method was not used.

The Method Used

In sharing all the lands, the lands were shared equally. The measurements may not be exactly equal, because sometimes it is hard to make all the measurements equal. But, the idea was to make all the lands equal or with necessary adjustments to compensate, one person or the other, where the measurements are not exactly equal.

In sharing the moneys belonging to the family, the moneys were always shared equally among the four sons.

After the funeral ceremony of our father, all the wine and clothes were shared equally.

The conclusions is that since all lands and moneys, etc were shared equally, the only and best thing to do about the family house is to share it equally. It is now too late to implement the Igbo custom and the bible method, because all lands and moneys have already being shared equally.

Father’s Will

I was not at home when our father died. But, when I came home, I was told how he shared out the family house to the four sons, leaving the ground floor as general section. Our mother was telling me the same thing that Ugochukwu said, which was the same thing that Toochukwu said. Personally, I knew that that was not how to share family properties, but since our father has said so, I accepted it.

Public Image

In every society, where the members of a family are often quarreling and fighting, the natives and neghbourhood regard such family members as foolish. They may pretend to be friendly, but behind the scenes and in gatherings, they use such family members to crack jokes and make proverbs, regarding them as unenlightened. It is up to every family to apply wise and decency, by proving themselves mature. And maturity is the ability to handle cases quietly and silently, even so without people knowing about the case. In today’s modern societies, so many youths are failing this simple test of maturity.

On A Personal Note

I advise everybody to be careful about what he does in this earthly life. The earthly money and wealth are waste products from heaven which are being used to test humanity. It is regrettable that many are failing the everyday tests, for which the punishments either in in hell fire or here on earth is unavoidable. Majority of the teeming world populations of humanity you see here on earth were the ancestors of old. Each person must reincarnate to suffer for whatever mistakes he made or to continue from where he stopped. That is how God is the God of justice.

I Have Said This Before

On several occasions, the angels have taken me to heaven. And everywhere I meet the angels, they bow down to me or salute me. Some of them call me Master Jesus. Others call me Lord and Saviour. Some others call me Master Jesus. I have visited the moon, the sun and the heavens several times.

I advise and warn everybody in our family to be very careful of what he does and how he does things. In heaven or hell, your brother, sister, father or mother cannot save you. These words, brother, sister, father or mother are meaningless over there.

Conclusion

Everybody should leave the family house as our father shared it, because it is already too late to start sharing properties either in the Igbo custom or the biblical way.

+ Jesus said that He was coming alike a thief, because a thief comes uninvited, arrives unnoticed and works undetected, unknown to the environment and unrecognized by the public