https://www.africanews.com/embed/1714478
A Nigerian delegation has received a bronze statue looted in the 19th century by a punitive British military expedition in the former kingdom of Benin in southern Nigeria in 1897.
An official and the head of Jesus College at the Cambridge University college Sonita Alleyne hailed the historic occasion saying that she is proud that the institution becomes the first to have simply taken action by formally returning the elaborately carved cockerel known as “Okukor”.
The formal return of the “Okukor” bronze which was looted along with hundreds of sacred sculptures and carvings known as the Benin Bronzes has raised pressure on other establishments, including the British Museum, to hand over to their rightful owners’ stolen African Artifacts taken away before and during the British colonial rule.
According to Alleyne of the Jesus College, the “Okukor” bronze statue was given to the institution in 1905 by the father of a student, and more recent students had been campaigning for its restitution.
Several other Benin Bronzes are held in collections of numerous British, European, and US museums and institutions with the British Museum having the largest collection which it has not yet agreed to return back to its rightful owners.
Nigerian officials who took part in the ceremony included the Ambassador to the UK Sarafa Tunji Isola and Prince Aghatise Erediauwa, the brother of the historic kingdom’s traditional ruler, the Oba of Benin.
While appreciating the gesture, Ambassador Tunji-Ishola said the Nigerian people are grateful and extended President Muhammadu Buhari’s gratitude to the British Institution.
Prince Aghatise Erediauwa on his part said that “Jesus College is indeed challenging the erroneous arguments that stolen art cannot be returned because of the existence of different legal jurisdictions on the matter”.
Jesus College used to display the cockerel in its dining hall, but removed it in 2016. British campuses, in general, have seen a recent wave of soul-searching spurred on by the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Abba Isa Tijani, the Director-General of the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments, hailed the college’s act as “a great example for other institutions and other countries”.
He urged the British Museum to change its stance on the bronzes in its collection and noted that Nigeria has handed over a formal request for their repatriation.
Tijani insisted that the sculptures “are going to the right place and they will be looked after”.
Several other Western institutions have said they too plan to hand looted African treasures back.
This week, the Quai Branly Museum in Paris is exhibiting a trove of Benin Bronzes for a final time before they are handed back to the modern-day state of Benin.
The University of Aberdeen is to hand another Benin Bronze over to the same Nigerian delegation on Thursday.
