In recent times, something great has been happening in Edo State, yet darkness seems to reign. Instead of celebration and harmony, greed and avarice have advanced to the centre stage to retard the gains of establishing a futuristic Edo cultural tourist economy.

It has been a ding-dong tussle between the Palace of the Oba of Benin and the Governor Godwin Obaseki administration on who rightly holds in trust the returned Benin bronzes looted by the British forces, which invaded the ancient kingdom in 1897.

Spirited efforts by the Federal Government, through the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) and, no doubt, the Benin Palace, have led to the stream of ‘ begrudged’ return of rare works such as the cockerel (okpa) or Okuku (Igbo) and uhunwun Elao (oba head) by Jesuit College of Cambridge University and the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

This week, Horniman Museum and Gardens in South East London has pledged to return about 72 Benin bronzes, looted from Benin Kingdom during the same period.

The items, priceless and evidently reflective of the huge artistic talents of our ancestors, include 12 brass plaques known as Benin Bronze, a brass cockerel altarpiece, ivory and brass ceremonial objects, brass bells and a key to the king’s palace.

Please, indulge me at this point and let me share with you the wisdom, yes, the moral restitution, behind this effort, which the trustees Horniman Museum admitted as “forceful acquisition (stolen)” of items from the Benin Kingdom.

Eva Solomon, chairman of the Horniman Museum board of trustees, in a letter to the NCMM, wrote that returning the iconic artifacts was moral and appropriate, without telling us how much the items have generated for the British economy in the past 125 years of being in their custody.

Indeed, we shall engage the looters and Nigerian national museum authorities on the issues of monetary compensation for the 125 years or more that these items had contributed to the cultural tourist traffic to Britain, Germany and France. At least, these European countries partook in the looting spree.

To simply write Nigeria and the Palace of the Oba of Benin, to plead for forgiveness on “forceful” acquisition of the artifacts that they (the Europeans) put on global display (and possibly sold some in the lucrative black market) without acceptable moral financial restitution certainly begs the issue.

Now, back to our tussle of shame in Edo State, where Governor Obaseki seems to be playing hide and seek with the Palace on “where and who” must preserve and keep the returned artistic works.

The controversy has raged since efforts were made to bring back what were stolen from the Palace of the Oba of Benin and I am sure, those who stole the items, willing to return them, would be laughing at the confusion and the hundred metres race by Edo State government to outpace the Palace in hosting the returned items.

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Significant and the right thing to do, the Federal Government’s insistence on the return of the artifacts to the Palace speaks loudly against the systemic circulation and deployment of organized “banditry” to forcefully take over the returned works for “the people,” against the desire of the Palace to take possession.

While Oba Ewuare deservedly wishes through the Palace foundation to build a befitting museum to house and display for tourism purposes, Governor Obaseki and his consultants have a different Edo Museum of West African Art museum agenda.

However, this mistrust, managed out of public view by Obaseki and the Palace, has pitted a few outspoken Edo cultural stakeholders against the state government. 

This disrupting and disturbing scenario presents us as a “dark people” with no light in our hearts. Every right-thinking Nigerian knows that our governments are destroyers of legacies and do not have sustainable developmental milestones, as Obaseki wants us to believe, in the case of who is to house the returned artifacts.

There was no historical antecedents to support Obaseki’s position on the issue, but the Palace, where kings come and go after serving the people, is ruled by agelong customs and traditions, developmental milestones and the people’s dedication and loyalty to the best of Benin ancestry DNA.

Oba Ewuare has got the Benin people behind his vision to house what was stolen from his ancestors and it will amount to a harassment of the palace and the people of Benin if Obaseki hijacks the process.

Except we wish to pretend about the bitterness and pain this controversy has generated over time in Edo State and among local and international observers, there is need to put to rest this shameful disagreement orchestrated by the Obaseki government.

No doubt the Federal Government felt it had done its best to facilitate the diplomatic victory in the return of the looted works. One, however, finds the Federal Government’s “siddon look” stance strange, particularly in not warning Obaseki to steer clear of the looted objects and which it rightly handed over to the Benin Royal Palace.

To watch the Edo State government muscle clandestinely the Palace on this issue is sad, to say the least, and against even the desire to use the effort to put Edo on the international tourism space.

Unfortunately, the very knowledgeable and adventurous tourist consumers of the iconic and historical artistic works may be discouraged from visiting the state and Nigeria as a whole on account the Obaseki overdrive on the returned artworks.

When shall we place the future of our people above selfish interest? The palace deserves to keep the returned loot and Obaseki should be seen to be on the same page.