The Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II yesterday insisted that the people of Benin Kingdom including himself and the entire royal family would not accept the return of the artefacts stolen from the palace during the 1897 invasion by the British to any other location except the palace where they were looted from.
Addressing the media in his palace yesterday, Oba Ewuare II said the initiative of Governor Godwin Obaseki on the return of the artefacts with the establishment of an Edo Museum of West African Arts (EMOWAA) and a Trust Fund was not part of the discussion he had with the governor even as he said he believed some persons trying to make money from the exercise.
The media parley had in attendance palace chiefs, heads of all the dukedoms in the kingdom, members of the royal family, Ohens (heads of shrines and priests), the Okhaegeles (representatives of the youths) and several Benin sons and daughters.
He said issues of the return of the works were not controversial as being portrayed. “There is no controversy about this matter, it is a straightforward matter. I want to correct the expression that there is controversy between the palace and state government. Perhaps there is a breach in communication, there is a little bit of misunderstanding not on our side but on the side of the state government of His Excellency Mr Godwin Obaseki the governor who I said we should pray for. “The issue of EMOWAA is strange to us, that was not what I discussed with Mr Governor right from the beginning, what I discussed with him was the Benin Royal Museum. If we are together now, I will remind him, I will ask him, what did we discuss that time, was it EMOWAA, was it any Trust, no, he cannot say he discussed that with me. We don’t know EMOWAA, we cannot deal with EMOWAA. It is the Benin Royal Museum’’. The Benin Monarch then cautioned against money being the reason behind the differences; “Let those that have ears let them hear. I have always made my position clear, I am following my father’s footsteps, I am following my ancestors’ footsteps, it is not just only my cause, it is not just only my statement, it is the statement of the entire people. You cannot expect the artefact to go elsewhere other than where it was taken from. I think the international community will be wise.
“What I am saying here is peace, pray for the governor, perhaps there are unscrupulous people, you know they say money is the root of all evil. I am getting a lot of information, I don’t want to say it all here but the bottom line of it is that there seems to be monetary attraction, financial attraction inside of these schemes and everybody can still gain if you go the right way and God will bless you. But if you go the demonic way, the Satan way, to be greedy and do the wrong things, God will judge the person.”
In his speech which was earlier read by the Iyase (Prime Minister) of Benin, Chief Sam Igbe, the Oba said he had already established the Oba Ewuare II Foundation and “has been registered with the CAC and has worked out a framework for not only receiving the artefacts but also building a modern structure within the precincts of the Palace and that land has been secured for the Benin Royal Museum under the supervision of the traditional institution.
But for reasons best known to him the Governor has gone against the understanding, given recent events.”
