But that plan soon began to fall apart. That same month, Oba said in a written statement to the press that she should be the only one to receive the treasure and that anyone who cooperates with the trust is an “enemy.”
To overcome Oba’s opposition, Nigerian authorities have developed another option. In March of this year, Ava Tijani, secretary-general of the Museums Commission, told a meeting of Western museum officials that Nigeria would build a royal museum in the city of Benin on behalf of Oba and his court, and to collect many of the returned items. said to exhibit. Two people who attended the meeting said Tigiani presented a vision for the museum but had no firm plans.
Just weeks later, President Buhari made a surprise announcement.
In a telephone interview, Tigiani said he would challenge the president’s declaration. He declined to explain the legal basis for the dispute, but he said there was an error in the three-page document authorizing the transfer.
Nigerian legal experts said in interviews that Tijani would need to go to court to force changes or that Nigeria’s new president, Bola Tinub, who took office on Monday, would declare the former president’s presidency null and void. He said he either wants to release it.
But while the confusion surrounding the announcement may have put the brakes on any new returns, few museum curators seem to have regretted their decision to return the statue. Barbara Plankensteiner, director of the Rothenbaum Museum, a major ethnographic institution in Hamburg, Germany, said recent events show that reparation is a complex process and is likely to be hit with obstacles. said there is.
“The Benin bronze statue is a colonial booty,” she said, adding that it should be returned like any other stolen property. She added that it is Nigeria, not the former suzerain, that decides what happens to its holdings.
