Nigeria Wants Looted Benin Artifacts Return by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The National Commission for Museums and Monuments  Nigeria, is demanding the return of 32 artifacts from the collector, Robert Owen Lehman.

The artifacts were said to have been looted during the Benin Massacre of 1897 and said to have been illegally taken by the British Expedition as spoils of war.

Mr. Lehman, a banker and a great-grandson of a founder of Lehman Brothers, had purchased the Benin sculptures between the 1950s and the 1970s.

Yusuf Abdallah Usman, Director General of the Commission, issued a statement saying “Without mincing words, these artworks are heirlooms of the great people of the Benin Kingdom and Nigeria generally. They form part of the history of the people. The gap created by this senseless exploitation is causing our people untold anguish, discomfort and disillusionment.’’

Asked whether the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,U.S planned to return the objects, Dawn Griffin, a spokeswoman for the museum, said only that “we have not received any correspondence from Nigeria.’’