Oba of Benin receives 18 looted artefacts after 125 years

By Ozioruva Aliu

The Oba of Benin, Omo N’ Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo Ewuare II, has received 18 cultural artefacts repatriated from Switzerland after 125 years in foreign custody. He emphasized that the royal objects are not mere curiosities but vital records of governance, spirituality, and artistry of the Edo people, taken by force during colonial incursions.

Among the returned items is an ancestral head of a Benin Oba, looted during the 1897 British punitive expedition against the Benin Royal Court.

Receiving the Swiss delegation led by the Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Olugbile Holloway, Oba Ewuare II expressed gratitude to the Swiss government, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Monday Okpebholo, and other stakeholders for their role in the restitution process.

“The Benin bronzes are not curiosities. They are records of governance and spirituality of the Edo people taken by force. To delay their return is to continue dispossession by other means,” the monarch declared.