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  • New Internationalist

    Stolen treasures

    Feb 13, 2022 6 minutes

    ‘We are very happy and excited,’ said Abba Issa Tijani ahead of the ceremony.

    The director general of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) had arrived in Cambridge with Prince Aghatise Erediauwa, younger brother of the Oba (King) of the Royal Court of Benin, the ancient kingdom in what is now southern Nigeria. Aides buzzed around the pair, attempting to corral herds of TV crews.

    The delegation was in town to receive a 400-year-old bronze cockerel that was looted by British soldiers during the violent conquest of the Kingdom of Benin in 1897. Thousands of masterfully-crafted artefacts, some dating to the 13th century, were stolen. These objects, dispersed to museums and private collections across the world, came to be known as the Benin bronzes – although many are made of brass and ivory.

    With the handover of the cockerel on 27 October 2021, the University of Cambridge became the first British institution to return a bronze. The following day, the Nigerian delegation travelled north

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