Protests suspend opening of contested heritage museum in Nigeria

The opening of a contested museum in Nigeria, meant to display west African art, has been postponed after protesters disrupted a private visit on Sunday, officials said.

The Museum of West African Arts (MOWAA) had been due to officially open on Tuesday, but this will now be postponed indefinitely, officials said.

MOWAA was launched five years ago by Nigerian businessman Phillip Ihenacho in Benin City, Edo State, with the support of its former governor.

It has also been financed with help from the French and German governments as well as the British Museum, and from private donors.

It is due to house exhibition spaces and archives and aims to host residencies for west African artists and craftspeople, and on Sunday was holding a pre-opening event for donors and industry professionals.

But around 20 men, some armed with wooden bats, stormed into the museum courtyard, forcing guests to take refuge inside.

The group, whose demands were not clear, caused minor damage in the museum courtyard, AFP reporters saw.

“Protesters entered and began vandalising part of the reception pavilion, where we receive visitors, then they stormed inside the front section, where the exhibition area is located,” Ihenacho told AFP.

After around two hours, guests were escorted away in buses to a nearby hotel.

Political tensions

The museum has sparked tensions between the former state governor and his successor, an ally of the city’s traditional ruler, Oba Ewuare II, who says he should be in charge of the museum.

Benin for years has been trying to recover artefacts seized during the colonial era, in particular the “Benin Bronzes” looted more than 120 years ago.

Most of the ornate bronzes were seized by British soldiers in a retaliatory raid on Benin, and then auctioned off or sold to museums across Europe and the United States.

Ihenacho said he believed the protesters were “representatives from the palace” of Oba Ewuare II.

“We have never pretended to be anything other than the Museum of West African Art,” Ihenacho added.

Nigeria’s Culture Minister Hannatu Musa Musawa condemned the incident in a statement late Sunday.

“The reported disruption at MOWAA not only endangers a treasured cultural asset but also threatens the peaceful environment necessary for cultural exchange and the preservation of our artistic patrimony,” she said.

“We are in active consultation with the Edo State government, security agencies and all relevant stakeholders to establish a full understanding of the circumstances and to ensure and appropriate and proportionate response,” she said in a statement.