大象传媒

The campaign to return the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria is gaining ground. The University of Aberdeen has now joined a growing list of worldwide institutions promising to return a Benin artefact it has in its collection. The small bronze statue of Oba, or King of Benin, was part of a haul of thousands of items taken when British forces looted Benin city in southeastern Nigeria in 1897. Professor Bankole Sodipo, Professor of Law in Babcock University in Nigeria, was involved in helping arrange the return, and also has a personal connection to the history of this artefact.

(Picture: Benin bronze depicting the Oba of Benin at The Sir Duncan Rice Library, the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, March 2021. Credit: Reuters)