Oba of Benin Tells FG Not To Allow Gov Obaseki Take Custody Of Returned Artifacts
The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, has asked the Federal Government not to hand over stolen Benin artefacts to the Edo State government when they are repatriated.
The German government had said it would return the 1,130 looted Benin bronze to Nigeria in 2022.
The Benin kingdom was in 1897 invaded by British soldiers, in what is now referred to as the Benin invasion of 1897, carting away thousands of bronze while several other cultural artefacts were destroyed.
The Federal government on Thursday disclosed that the German minister of state for culture, Monica Grutters, said the country is ready to make a “substantial return” of the 1,130 looted artefacts from the beginning of 2022.
In his reaction, the Oba of Benin, while addressing a press conference said the looted bronzes are no...