University Of Aberdeen To Return Stolen Bronze Sculpture To Benin

Nigerians were (and still are) so passionate about the return of the artifacts stolen by the British when they overthrew Oba Ovonramwen N’ogbaisi of Benin Empire that a movie, Invasion 1897, was released to drive home the point.  Produced and directed by Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen, the movie was released in 2014 and features several Nollywood actors including Segun Arinze, Paul Obazele, Charles Inojie and Mike Omorogbe (as Oba Ovonrawmen).

The movie opens with a History lecturer telling his students in UK the importance of sculptures of Benin Empire which went beyond artifacts but were also means of communication. One of the  students, a young Benin  prince, thereafter, enters a museum in London to take back artworks that belong to his ancestors. He is arrested, docked but pleads not guilty.

As the agitations for the return of the artworks thicken in the arts, academic journals, the media, diplomatic circles, there is a silver lining in the clouds

The University of Aberdeen has made known its intention to return “a Benin bronze – a sculpture looted by British soldiers in Nigeria in one of the most notorious examples of the pillaging of cultural treasures associated with 19^th century European colonial expansion.” This is contained in a press statement sent  by Jo Milne on Wednesday, 24 March.

Those Who Made It Possible

The University of Aberdeen, as contained in the statement, instigated a conversation through Professor Bankole Sodipo, Professor of Law in Babcock University, Nigeria with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments of Nigeria through its Legal Adviser, Babatunde Adebiyi, the Edo State Government through the then Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Yinka Omorogbe and the Royal Court of the Oba of Benin through Prince Professor Gregory Akenzua in 2020.

“The Nigerian Federal Government gave its backing through the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and its Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

This conversation has now led to the University of Aberdeen becoming the first institution to agree to the full repatriation from a museum of a Benin bronze.

The bronze sculpture depicting an Oba (king) of Benin was acquired by the University in 1957 at an auction and is considered a superb example of Benin Late Period Art.”