musicwriter:


Historians and Africans should stop using the above word that the British has put in our mouths through indoctrination a.k.a education. The so called punitive expeditions were ''stealing expeditions'' carried out all over the world in their greedy quest for world domination. The right word to use is stealing expedition or war of conquest.

How could it be a punitive expedition; when?

In 1887, the British dethroned king Jaja of Opobo and forced him to exile for refusing to allow British monopoly on commodity trade in his kingdom.

In 1861, the British threatened Oba of Lagos, Oba Dosunmu with war for refusing to sign a treaty surrendering Lagos to them as British protectorate. He later succumbed and gave up Lagos as a British protectorate.

In 1895, the British dethroned king Koko Mingi VIII of Nembe and sent him to exile for refusing to accept an exploitative contract term from the royal Niger company- a British colonial monopoly.

In 1735, a British delegation shot Oba Oresoyen in his palace for being stubborn and refusing to take instruction from Queen of England.

In 1897, the British dethroned Oba Ovonramwen of Bini kingdom and sent him to exile after unsuccessful attempts to lure him to surrender his kingdom to slavery. After he was exiled, the British called a meeting of the community, and in a triumphant tone, they said “you see, your King is gone!. From today, you have only one King and her name is Queen Victoria. Henceforth, she’s the only one you shall pay tributes to”.

In 1894, the British exiled king Nana of Itsekiri to Ghana and took over his oil palm factory and cocoa plantation.

In 1896, the British exiled king Prempeh I of Ashanti kingdom for refusing to offer them 50,000 ounces of gold at once, even as the king was begging them he can pay in installments starting with an initial 680 ounces down payment. The British took the 680 initial deposit from him and reneged from the agreement. Finally, the head of the British expedition ordered king Prempeh to vacate his seat and to sit on the floor. When king Prempeh sat on the floor, he sat on Prempeh's official seat and started verbally abusing the king, the Ashanti kingdom, and black people in general with all sorts of derogatory words. When he was done abusing the king, he asked the king to come forward to kiss his boots (his right and left foot) and the king did so. After humiliating the king in the presence of the whole village, he sent him to exile to Seychelles.

Note that king Prempeh did not owe Britain any gold as he didn’t have any business with them; rather, the British heard his official seat was made of real gold, they got jealous and wanted some of the gold. When Prempeh refused to give them gold, they threatened him to provide gold or have his kingdom invaded. The king under fear of exile signed he would provide the gold, but he didn’t have all of the gold at once.

In 1899, the British exiled king Mwanga II of Buganda a.k.a the Kabaka of Buganda to Seychelles. He was dethroned for refusing to convert to Christianity and also for refusing to sign a treaty with Lord Lugard granting Britain power over taxes in his kingdom and trade to the Imperial British East Africa Company.

In 1899, the British shot and wounded king Kabalega of Bunyoro in his palace for refusing to surrender his kingdom to colonialism. He was exiled to the Seychelles and the British installed a puppet king.

In 1883, the British pressured Oba Awujale Fidipote to exile in Epe, after threatening military invasion of his kingdom.

In 1896, the British sent Queen Yaa Asantewaa to exile to the Seychelles for refusing to submit to imperial rule. Queen Yaa Asantewa fought gallantly and was only defeated by a fortified British expeditionary force.

In 1891, the British dethroned and exiled king Waiyaki Wa Hinga. King Waiyaki had earlier made an agreement with the British to allow them settle peacefully in his land. As usual, the British reneged from the agreement few month later, and wanted everything in his kingdom including his seat. A fight ensued and they hit king Waiyaki with (simi) dagger on his head, and planned to take him to court for prosecution. On the way to the court they changed their mind and decided to bury him alive instead. Till today, nobody knows where they buried him.

In 1835, Britain captured and beheaded king Hintsa in South Africa. He was of the Xhosa tribe. The queen of England asked that his skull be brought to her palace in London, and it was done. Till today, nobody knows where they buried him or where his skull is.

The list of dethroned and exiled African kings is endless. There must have been over 2,500 of such cases as ancient Africa was ruled by kings. Every single African king had to be dethroned or exiled for his kingdom to be enslaved. The French, Germans, Spanish, Portuguese, also have their share of these crimes in Africa.

Details at open letter to African kings and traditional rulers http://www.africason.com/2017/03/open-letter-to-african-kings.html

If only the indomie generation kids on NL could read this and be educated instead of displaying their ignorant stupidity on SM.

jboy73:
Yes.
They should be left there.
We can't manage them... If they were in Africa, by now it would have been used as fire food to roast bush meat.

kid come to Benin museum at ring road u think we are afonjas or Igbos

gregyboy:



A yoruba gal said that to me in uniben ....i was shocked that the yorubas know nothing of other region ..this is d way the three majour tribe see the rest nigeria

Ibos: see we as yorubas
Yorubas: see us igbos
Hausa: see us as both igbos and yoruba

So funny how it sound and we will call the whiteman fool when he says africa is a country
Is that not hypocrisy

That's the fact my brother. One of my sister from the western part of Nigeria once told me we (she and her family members plus their village head) thought is only Yoruba,Hausa and Ibo we have in Nigeria....this is a graduate from Lagos State University.

gregyboy:



Am benin and i would say benin is leaving on past glory in the world ....just go to igun were all this art were made the leave in penury...

As for historical renovation is actually zero my friend the moat is almost closed up..the government has not done anything to bring it back or maintain it ...since the Benin walls were destroyed by the british it wasn't even built again ...the moat is been used as sewage and refuse dump in the entire city...a moat that was once recongnised in guiness book of record...if proper maintance was done on this moat if its well exibited to the world i bet everyone will want to come to the place that made the beautiful art to see its moat or walls ...it will create so much mobey for the state...nevertheless to do such work on this tourism it requires billions of money not the one ge is doing....

For the art to be returned i say no...keep it till will developed to have it back

If your property was stolen from your bungalow and sold to someone in a mansion,would you prefer it to remain in that big mansion?

Answer before I tag you Oghien Edo!

martineverest:
I noticed how overly stupid Nigerians are yesterday..... they were all over the internet congratulating royalty yesterday for their wedding but will always diss their traditional rulers....it's really sad that we are facing neo colonialism

It's MENTAL SLAVERY....back then our lands were colonized but now our minds are being colonized,And mental slavery is the worst of all slavery.

pri3stess:


I agree. I normally stay away from Nairaland because the comments under posts like this are normally so cringey. Sometimes I think Nigerians deserve their leaders. Very culturally lost set of people with inferiority complex.

You are not far from the truth.

HtwoOw:
Ya, you went there to ask them to return it with immediate effect

Bros abeg, who be you ??


Jumaji ?

Him be Kilmonger

JoshMedia:

The same necessary value that wasn't awarded before some of it was sold/stolen?

Take it or leave it, it looks more attractive and valuable in the British Museum than it's previous residence.

We tend to refer to these piece of history as just artifacts, but I beg to differ.

Most African history were not written in books like the Europeans but in these works of arts. They were not just used to adorn the wall of the palaces but kept in our traditional library.

The Igbos nsibidi, Yoruba faye, Kemet hieroglyphic,The Benin Bronze were all form of writing depicting the history and chronology of our people.

GrammarCheck:


Ode. Odion Osagie is a Benin man. You are so myopic. Gosh! Your entire stratosphere revolves around Ariaria market. Thank God for N100 data, you have managed to experience internet.

Chineke meh!!! You don finish am finish!!!

EzendiEgo1:
What kind of stupidity is this Afonja displaying.

So they should return what brings huge revenue to British Government.

I think guy is really stupid besides this is how they always claims what is not theirs.

Our Artifacts Nigeria Government stolen from us during Biafra war have they return it.


Stupid Afonja's

There is nothing like afonja igbo man and the guy in question is benin not yoruba

Born2Breed:


That's the fact my brother. One of my sister from the western part of Nigeria once told me we (she and her family members plus their village head) thought is only Yoruba,Hausa and Ibo we have in Nigeria....this is a graduate from Lagos State University.

Dont generalise thats how we denigrate a whole tribe from one negative interaction with one person its wrong to generalise trust me

He should have Stolen like killmonger did in black Panther

http://www.alcobo.com/productviewindex.jsp?naw=141


thats the link above to this product

HtwoOw:
Ya, you went there to ask them to return it with immediate effect

Bros abeg, who be you ??


Jumaji ?

u funny gan

i read in one book of history where they narrated biiiiiiiggg false stories of human sacrivises to justify their colonising benin. the facts is, of sooooo many pictures shown in the paper of history, no single picture of human sacrivise is there

Simbrixton:


Dont generalise thats how we denigrate a whole tribe from one negative interaction with one person its wrong to generalise trust me

It's the general stereotype there. I schooled,served and worked there.....

big3boy:
i read in one book of history where they narrated biiiiiiiggg false stories of human sacrivises to justify their colonising benin. the facts is, of sooooo many pictures shown in the paper of history, no single picture of human sacrivise is there

They just had to cook up a story to invade Benin.....they had it all planned for like 5yrs and choose the Ague period.

Culture and arts should be shared. We cannot force them to return it to us. We didn't loose everything, what have we done with the ones we have here. Government is trying its best but it's doing it wrongly. Our curriculum in Edo state needs to be changed. Edo state government doesn't have its own coat of arms, i don't know why we don't. We don't have a flag..i don't know why?.....as for the moats, they are almost gone. Well i hope someday we will get back on track as a people with a common heritage and goal..

We are not Yorubas
We are not Igbos
We are what connects them.....



God bless Edo state
Umogun gha to kpere.....Ise!!!

see what black panther has caused??
#if u know u know

Even the so called artifacts no want come back... come do wetin for naija

Born2Breed:



If your property was stolen from your bungalow and sold to someone in a mansion,would you prefer it to remain in that big mansion?

Answer before I tag you Oghien Edo!

U cant call me the enemy of benin

Neither am not happy the way they stole it or the way they kept it there. leaving anger aside lets not just think of bringing it back alone but lets think for it safety ...we could loan it...lets not be dogmatic .in thinking yea we are fighting for our right so as other tribes are helping the way we go about it....benin art his all over Europe are you aware that the benin art exhibition was shown in france at 2006 .think of any eurpean country benin art has not gone none my friend...bringing it back is not a big deal but how to get it and keep it and probably make money from it...thats what we should worry for ..now almost all europeans has benin art in their museum if the fight is taking to war court we could tell them to pay for the years it has been with them and after we loan it to them we tell them to keep it and pay in return montly
...by so doing every edo person benefit from it that way ...imagine all edo persons recieving that money from tourist every months in his account it will help boost the ecomomy and promote tourism some part of the money will also go to tourism...then when we have a good country we require all back ....deltans collect busary every month in schools but we dont this could be our busary...cant you see

Born2Breed:


Does this look like sold items?

I like the picture.

I repeat they were stolen or seized They were not released willingly.

It was a sad result of the punitive expedition!

Benin Kingdom has been demanding a return of these artefacts

YOUNGELDER1:
They should please return them.

Bros, the artifacts go even prefer that side. Them no go wan come share for Buhari wahala.

gregyboy:


U cant call me the enemy of benin

Neither am not happy the way they stole it or the way they kept it there. leaving anger aside lets not just think of bringing it back alone but lets think for it safety ...we could loan it...lets not be dogmatic .in thinking yea we are fighting for our right so as other tribes are helping the way we go about it....benin art his all over Europe are you aware that the benin art exhibition was shown in france at 2006 .think of any eurpean country benin art has not gone none my friend...bringing it back is not a big deal but how to get it and keep it and probably make money from it...thats what we should worry for ..now almost all europeans has benin art in their museum if the fight is taking to war court we could tell them to pay for the years it has been with them and after we loan it to them we tell them to keep it and pay in return montly
...by so doing every edo person benefit from it that way ...imagine all edo persons recieving that money from tourist every months in his account it will help boost the ecomomy and promote tourism some part of the money will also go to tourism...then when we have a good country we require all back ....deltans collect busary every month in schools but we dont this could be our busary...cant you see

Otemwen, you spoke well.

But these are not just artifacts but historical symbols of Benin heritage. There are secret Edo groups on facebook who have been fighting for the return of these works and they have succeeded in getting some back.

dainformant:
A Nigerian man visited the British Museum to request that the Benin kingdom artifacts which were allegedly stolen since the 1980's, be returned. The entrepreneur and philanthropist, Ambassador Dion Osagie from Edo state - revealed that his visit to the museum on the quest of recovering the items was worth more than anything to him.

The British museum boasts the second largest collection of art from the Benin kingdom after the Ethnological Museum in Berlin.

It has been reported that the British Museum will host a summit along with other European museums to discuss the return of bronze artifacts looted in 1897 from the kingdom of Benin, now southern Nigeria. It will conduct negotiations with Nigeria and Benin about returning the items which are expected to go on permanent display in Benin City.

In the late 19th century, Britain sought to wipe out the kingdom of Benin in what became known as the “punitive expedition.” When Oba Ovonramwen, then ruler of Benin, imposed customs duties on goods leaving the territory, Britain sent 1,200 soldiers to destroy the kingdom as a form of reparations for the colonial power.

The city was set on fire and hundreds of trinkets, bronze sculptures, and valuables were stolen and later handed to the British government. Through trade and art dealership, these artifacts have mostly ended up in Germany and the United States.

Source; https://www.nationalhelm.co/2018/05/stolen-benin-kingdom-artifacts-spotted-at-a-british-museum.html

We do more than get the riches back we must revive the culture so that we can create a cultural legacy and heritage for this day and time.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExbBEzzLM7A


www.undergroundriseup..com


Ase

Love Sango

Wakanda style

dainformant:
see more; https://www.nationalhelm.co/2018/05/stolen-benin-kingdom-artifacts-spotted-at-a-british-museum.html

Those whites really stole from us,thieves.

Those artifacts are better off there... Here in it's rightful place might be sold and replaced with a replica abi no b naija ni.... Let it stay there abeg... But I feel we should be getting paid for it by the British government lol... Do people still even do museums in Nigeria

british men took it when our transmission refuses to transform due to the omission of transfusion, just dey lol

please they should also return face of festac

erico2k2:
It was stolen then sold, plz be guided when you speak in public!

Look who's telling someone to be guided