Nigeria Receives Stolen Colonial Bronze from Cambridge

 

The stolen okuko bronze artifact. Reuters

In 1897, Britain overthrew Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi of Benin and carted artifacts away from his palace. It was like when soldiers sent by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem and stole away precious artifacts and other memorabilia. The Jews were nostalgic and sang:

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Yeah, we wept, when we remembered Zion
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Yeah, we wept, when we remembered Zion
There the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Required from us a song
Now how shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land”

Like the Jews in Diaspora, Nigerians (though were not taken into exile) have always longed for the return of all stolen artworks from Africa by the colonialists. It was for this nostalgia that the movie, Invasion 1897,  directed by Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen, was released in 2014 to address the theme.

Now, the agitations are paying off.
On Wednesday, a college at Cambridge University returned a bronze cockerel to the Nigerian authorities. It was one of those works stolen from the palace of Oba Nogbaisi.
In 2016, students protested against the looted artifacts, arguing that it represented “a colonial narrative.” Consequently, the college, as Associated Press put it, removed it from public view.
The report has it further: “The college set up a working group that concluded the statue belongs to the Oba of Benin, head of the historic Eweka dynasty of the Benin Empire. The empire centered on Benin City in modern-day Nigeria.
His Royal Majesty, Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Ewuare II, welcomed the handover decision.”
“We truly hope that others will expedite the return of our artworks, which in many cases are of religious importance to us,” he said when it was announced