BENIN CITY – The Institute of Benin Studies has welcomed the planned return of a bronze Cockerel ‘Okukor’ at Jesus College Cambridge to Nigeria, stating, it authenticates the legitimacy of the agitations of Benin people for the return of their looted artifacts.
The return of the Okukor, will be coming after Mark Walker handed over 2 bronze pieces, a bell and bird, to Oba Erediawa in 2014. He had inherited them from his grandfather, Herbert Walker, one of the British troops that invaded Benin.
“it authenticates legitimacy of the long standing agitation of the Benin people for the return of all their stolen religious, historical and spiritual art pieces.
“the Benin Monarch and subjects in anticipation of such gestures from across the world is prepared to receive them at any given time”, the Institute Director, Aiko Obobaifo told our correspondent in Benin city over the weekend.
The Cockerel will be one of the first Benin bronzes to be returned to Nigeria by a major British institution since the punitive expedition in 1897 when thousands of bronzes were stolen from Benin City by British forces.
With no specific date yet for the return, it was reported to had been recommended by the institution’s Legacy of Slavery Working Party (LSWP), a group dedicated to looking at the institution’s connections to slavery.
There has been an ongoing campaigns for the return of the stolen artworks, which is spearheaded by the Benin Dialogue Group, a consortium of museum representatives, curators, artists and others.
In 2016, the cockerel was removed from its public display following protests by the college’s students who were calling for it to be sent back to Benin city.
