How prayers foiled plot to re-loot returned artefacts – Oba of Benin
How prayers foiled plot to re-loot returned artefacts – Oba of Benin
The Oba of Benin, His Royal Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Ewuare II, has attributed the kingdom’s ability to frustrate attempts to re-loot returned Benin artefacts to divine intervention and prayers.
The monarch said the palace relied on God’s intervention, rather than human strength, to overcome those allegedly seeking to take away the cultural treasures returned following the 1897 British invasion.
Oba Ewuare II spoke when the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), led a delegation of the agency on a courtesy visit to his palace in Benin City, Edo State.
“The way we battled these potential prospective re-looters of our artefacts was not by the power of man but by the power of God Almighty,” the monarch said.
He added that prayers, alongside the support of traditional chiefs, members of the royal family and well-wishers, played important roles in protecting the kingdom’s cultural heritage.
The Benin monarch further vowed that no attempt to take away the returned artefacts would succeed during his reign.
He said the campaign for the restitution of looted Benin artefacts predated his reign, noting that successive generations of the royal family, including his grandfather and father, had sustained the struggle.
According to him, he had intensified the efforts of his predecessors, expressing satisfaction with the growing international response to the kingdom’s demand for the return of its cultural treasures.
Oba Ewuare II also recalled his diplomatic engagements as Nigeria’s ambassador to Scandinavian countries, including Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, where he pursued initiatives to strengthen cultural relations and promote the restitution campaign.
He explained that the initiative involved presenting specially commissioned Benin artworks to European monarchs as gifts, in a bid to deepen cultural ties and encourage the return of artefacts taken from the kingdom.
The monarch said he presented artworks to the kings of Sweden and Norway and the Queen of Denmark, adding that the engagements had contributed to efforts to secure the return of the kingdom’s looted heritage.
He disclosed that Sweden was expected to hand over about 40 additional Benin artefacts, with arrangements already being made for their legal and physical transfer.
The royal father described the anticipated restitution as another outcome of sustained diplomatic engagements and the longstanding campaign by the Benin Palace for the recovery of the kingdom’s cultural treasures.
