MOWAA and the Soul of Benin: Why History Must Not Be Hijacked By Chidi Ekeh, Abuja

MOWAA and the Soul of Benin: Why History Must Not Be Hijacked

By Chidi Ekeh, Abuja

The unfolding controversy surrounding the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in Benin is not a mere bureaucratic disagreement. It is a cultural earthquake that strikes at the very heart of identity, memory, and the moral sanctity of heritage. When a people’s history is tampered with, their pride is plundered. That, in essence, is what has driven the revered Oba of Benin to publicly denounce the actions of former Edo State governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

For a kingdom that has for centuries served as the custodian of Africa’s most exquisite bronze works, woven in the sweat and symbolism of royal bloodlines, the question of who speaks for Benin heritage is not open to debate—it is settled in the palace of the Oba.

Yet, Mr. Obaseki’s administration, in its unrestrained technocratic arrogance, chose to act as though the ancient Benin Kingdom were a footnote to modern governance. Without consulting the palace, the governor reportedly altered the museum’s original vision—from the Benin Royal Museum, conceived under royal blessing—to the Edo Museum of West African Art, and finally to MOWAA. These changes, done stealthily and shrouded in opaque management structures, amount to nothing less than an erasure attempt cloaked in development rhetoric.

It is an affront not just to the Oba, but to the collective soul of a people.

The Oba’s Grievance is the People’s Cry

At the core of the Oba’s objection lies a principle older than any government—the right of a people to narrate their own story. The Benin Throne is not a political office; it is the living embodiment of centuries of civilization, artistry, and diplomacy. The palace is not merely a stakeholder in the museum project—it is the rightful custodian of the heritage the museum seeks to exhibit.

When a sitting governor, by executive fiat, demolishes the historic Central Hospital to pave way for a project conceived in secrecy, changes its name without royal input, and transfers its control to a private trust—the so-called Legacy Restoration Trust—it ceases to be a partnership. It becomes a power grab, a desecration of trust.

Obaseki’s refusal to carry the palace along was not just a political miscalculation—it was a spiritual error. You cannot build a museum of history on the ruins of tradition.

The Stakes Are Larger Than Names

This is not about semantics. It is about sovereignty of heritage.
A museum that bears the name “Benin” or “West Africa” must be a mirror of truth, not an echo of elite convenience. If donors and international partners—Germany, the Mellon Foundation, the British Museum, and others—are to retain credibility in this noble restitution project, they must engage through channels that respect traditional authority. Cultural diplomacy, at its core, demands humility before authenticity.

The tragedy of Africa’s postcolonial identity crisis has always been our tendency to surrender our narrative to bureaucrats and consultants who see culture as commodity. The MOWAA debacle exposes this lingering malady. Art without ownership is aesthetic colonization. History without custodianship is theft repeated.

President Tinubu’s Intervention: A Chance to Heal

In fairness, the recent intervention by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration offers a pathway out of this cultural quagmire. The high-powered Presidential Committee—comprising representatives of the Federal Government, the Oba’s Palace, the Edo State Government, international donors, and MOWAA itself—represents a welcome restoration of order.

But the committee must not be a talk shop. It must have a clear and sacred mandate:

1. Restore Royal Dignity and Custodianship – The Oba of Benin must be publicly reaffirmed as the supreme moral authority over all Benin cultural artifacts and their interpretation. Any museum in Benin City must reflect this truth in name, governance, and purpose.

2. Ensure Transparent Ownership and Operation – All trust deeds, donor agreements, and management structures of MOWAA must be audited and restructured under a joint oversight model involving the Palace, Federal Government, and credible cultural institutions.

3. Reinstate the Original Vision – The spirit of the Benin Royal Museum should be reborn, not as an appendage of MOWAA but as the moral heart of it. The architecture of the project must tell the story of Benin, not the ego of its financiers.

4. Place the Museum on the World Stage – The committee must leverage international partnerships to make MOWAA a global hub of African art research, conservation, and contemporary expression—on par with the Smithsonian or the Louvre.

5. Bridge Past and Future – The museum must not be a mausoleum of nostalgia but a living academy where tomorrow’s artists, curators, and thinkers find inspiration. The young African creative must see in Benin not just relics of conquest, but blueprints for future creativity.

A Lesson for Leaders

The saga of MOWAA is a stark warning to public officials who confuse power with ownership. Culture is not a political project. It is the immortal memory of a people. When a governor substitutes consultation for conceit, he risks wounding a civilization.

In traditional African cosmology, a king is not just a ruler; he is the spiritual trustee of a people’s essence. The Oba of Benin stands as one of the last surviving links to Africa’s precolonial grandeur. To sideline him in a matter of heritage is akin to erecting a cathedral without a priest.

The Way Forward

As Governor Monday Okpebholo moves to correct the missteps of his predecessor—revoking MOWAA’s land title and initiating dialogue with the Palace—the path to reconciliation lies open. What is needed now is sincerity, not slogans; restitution, not rhetoric.

The international community, too, must learn that no cultural partnership can endure if it excludes those who carry the spiritual weight of that culture. The Benin people’s heritage is not a development project—it is a patrimony.

Let the committee remember this as they sit to chart the way forward: museums are not built by concrete and glass alone; they are built by respect—for ancestors, for legacy, and for truth.

When the dust settles, MOWAA should not stand as a monument to governmental arrogance, but as a testament to reconciliation—a beacon of African pride glowing from the heart of Benin to the world.

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Chidi Ekeh writes from Abuja.
chidiekeh@yahoo.com