PREVIEW
In the latest row over the artefacts, Edo State has revoked the new museum’s planning application
Instead of opening its doors on 10 November, the Museum of Western African Art (MOWAA) in Benin City appears to be on the brink of collapse. A glossy launch event for the museum was derailed after demonstrators broke into the building, forcing more than 250 guests to hide for several hours.
Subsequently, Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo revoked the licence for the land on which MOWAA was built. His office says this is because in the planning application the museum referred to itself as the Edo Museum of West African Art, but it later dropped the reference to ‘Edo’.
This is the latest in a series of disputes in Edo State over the MOWAA project, which is thought to have received up to US$20 million in funding, including from the German and French governments and the British Museum (AC Vol 66 No 4, Rivals tussle for Benin Bronzes).
The museum’s centrepiece was supposed to be the famous Benin Bronzes that were looted by British colonial soldiers in 1897, but that caused a major row. A group around the Oba of Benin, Omo n’Oba n’Edo Uku’ Akpolokpolo Ewuare II declared the bronzes belonged to him, not to Edo State government, a claim that was backed by Governor Okpebholo and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (AC Vol 65 No 23, Cultural and political battles break out as the stolen bronzes come home).The protesters claimed MOWAA had previously misrepresented itself as the Benin Royal Museum without the authority of the Oba of Benin.
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