The very respectable English University of Cambridge has resorted to the discredited argument of security of artefacts in Nigeria for its hesitation or refusal to return a looted Benin artefact.
The Benin Cockerel above was looted by the British invasion army in 1897 during their notorious ‘Punitive Expedition’ in which they stole 3500 Benin artefacts from the palace of the Oba of Benin.
Readers will no doubt recall that a few months ago, because of student agitation, the University of Cambridge was said to be considering the return of a looted Benin artefact, Okukor, the so-called Benin Cockerel, to its rightful owners in Benin, Nigeria. It has now been reported that the venerable university is reluctant or hesitant about the wisdom of returning the Benin treasure to Benin since such an artefact is likely to be stolen again. (1)
We have in several articles demonstrated that this pseudo-argument about the security of returned looted artefacts is untenable. (2) The argument based on the supposed security or lack of it does not sit well at all when advanced by looters or their successors. They should, in all honesty, be ashamed even to think of advancing such an argument or excuse in view of the history of the Benin Bronzes. The whole world now knows by now that the British stole, or if you prefer, looted some 3500 precious treasures in 1897, during their invasion of Benin which had refused to submit to British imperialist domination. Resistance to British hegemony resulted in the punishment meted to the people of Benin by the notorious Punitive Expedition of 1897 which looted artefacts, killed innocent women and children and burnt down Benin City. There is something perverse about looters refusing to return stolen goods by alleging that they would be stolen again. Whom do they expect to steal again these artefacts which Western museums illegally detain and refuse to return to the owner, the Oba of Benin? Whom will the thieves be working for?
As we have often stated, looters have no standing to complain or worry about the future security of looted objects they hold. A thief who has stolen my Mercedes Benz can surely not argue that my garage is not secure and that he has better and secure facilities, for the objects in question as well as for other looted objects he is holding.
The laws and customs of Benin do not provide a supervisory role in the protection of artefacts for the University of Cambridge and other illegal holders or looters of Benin artefacts.
Besides, who looked after the Benin Bronzes for hundreds of years before the British invading army stole them in 1897?
Members of the nefarious Punitive Expedition of 1897 posing proudly with their looted Benin artefacts.
We do not know whether the attitude of the University of Cambridge is influenced by the resurgent extremism, fuelled by arrogance and racism, that seems to be prevailing in many Western States. We would of course expect the venerable university to stay above such prevailing currents, especially when they are based on ignorance or disregard of historical facts. But the resort to the discredited argument of security leaves us wondering.
As the Cambridge students’ agitation seemed to be successful, we were informed that the Nigerian Commission for Museums and Monuments(NCMM) was in contact with the student agitators and that the Commission regarded the students victory as a confirmation of its policy of quiet diplomacy. (3) Is the Commission still in touch with the students? Has the Commission been in contact with the Cambridge authorities too? Has the Commission objected to the discredited and insulting argument about Nigerians not being able to protect returned looted artefacts when indeed hardly any looted artefacts have been returned to Nigeria by Western cultural institutions, as distinguished from routine customs and police seizures of illegal transfers?
Queen-Mother Idia, Benin, Nigeria, now in captivity in British Museum, London, United Kingdom. The symbol of Pan-African culture the British Museum refuses to return to Nigeria.
Surely, our sense of justice should tell us that a looter or his successor cannot be the final judge in determining the conditions under which a looted object should be returned to its rightful owner. In the present case, Captain George William Neville, a looter from the 1897 Benin looters, bequeathed the cockerel, Okukor, to Jesus College, Cambridge where his son had been a student. Thus, the university received the stolen artefact from the looter, knowing that it had been looted. The university cannot have more rights than the original thief.
www.varsity.co.uk/news
2. K. Opoku, Would western museums return looted objects if Nigeria and other African States were ruled by angels?…
My views on the security argument are summarized in K. Opoku, Compromise on the restitution of the Benin Bronzes? Comments on article by Prof. John Picton on restitution of Benin artefacts
With regard to this repeated argument about lack of secure facilities in Nigeria and elsewhere, we should bear the following in mind:
a) We are all in favour of secure museums and nobody contests the fact that Nigeria could, and must, improve the conditions of its museums.
b) Stealing from museums is, unfortunately, a practice which occurs everywhere in the world, including the so-called developed countries of the West. Museum Security Network and other internet sites report daily and often hourly, of numerous art thefts in Britain, France, Netherlands and Germany. There are other reports showing that American museums are not secured against fire and water damages.
c) Those Nigerian artefacts that have not been looted by the British or stolen by those encouraged by the Western market, are well cared for as demonstrated in the recent Ife exhibition.
d) All stolen/looted African and other artefacts end up in Western museums or private collections in the West. Is there a link here? Added to this is the preaching of false prophets who argue that the West has a right, if not a duty, to purchase artefacts irrespective of their provenance.
e) The argument on security and facilities could be used to keep forever the looted artefacts of others. Since when is it acceptable that those who have looted artefacts of others can set themselves up as judges and decide that the original owners are not worthy of the objects because they do not have adequate and secure facilities?
f) Does the absence of security and adequate facilities mean then that Nigerians and others are not to continue their cultural development and practices since whatever they have created or create could be detained in the West with the security and facilities argument?
g) When the people of Benin and elsewhere request the return of their looted artefacts, they do so, not on the basis of the facilities they have but simply by virtue of their rights of ownership which even the opponents of restitution do not deny.
h) The questions of ownership must be strictly separated from any other question such as that of security which may be related but cannot be used to negate ownership rights.
i) We have not heard a single Western State or museum declare that they are willing to return Benin objects if Nigeria/Benin had adequate facilities. The issue of facilities is brought up as a supplementary argument to support the determination not to return the artefacts.
j) No system of justice could function correctly by allowing wrongdoers to negate its fundamental principles and rights by virtue of their wrongdoing.
The persistent debate on restitution continues basically because of greed and the desire to control others.
3. K. Opoku, ‘What are they really celebrating at the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris? https://www.modernghana.com/news/689178/what-are-they-really…
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