₦airaland Forum

Nigeria is "saddened" by the sale of two sculptures belonging to the south-eastern Igbo community, an official from the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments, has said.

A prominent art historian had called on the renowned auction house, Christie's, to cancel the sale.

Prof Chika Okeke-Agulu told the BBC the two objects were "looted" from shrines during the civil war in the late 1960s.

The items were sold for just under $240,000 (£195,000) in Paris.

Christie's rejected the claim that the sculptures were stolen, saying the Monday sale was perfectly legal.

The wooden objects about 1.5 metres high, one male and one female, represent deities from the Igbo community, their hands face upwards waiting to receive sacrifices and gifts.

Why is the sale so controversial?

Central to the controversy is when the statues were taken and where from.
"Christie's ought not be dealing in Nigerian antiquities that were probably taken out at a time of conflict, contrary to the Hague Convention of 1954," Babatunde Adebiyi, legal adviser for the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments, said, adding that Nigeria "was saddened" by the sale.
The Hague Convention of 1954 was adopted to protect cultural property in the event of armed conflict. Nigeria joined the convention in 1961.
Prior to this Nigeria already had an antiquities ordinance law which made the trade of stolen cultural artefacts illegal, which was adopted in 1953.

The 1970 Unesco convention also banned the international trade in stolen artefacts.
Mr Adebiyi, who also advises the Nigerian government, says he believes these objects will always belong to the people of Nigeria.
"There is never going to be a universal principle that says something made by my forebears belongs to you in perpetuity because you bought it in an auction house. African antiquities will always be African, just like a Da Vinci will always be European."

Where did the items come from?

Prof Okeke-Agulu from Princeton University says the objects were looted from communal shrines in his native Anambra state, with the help of local conspirators.
He said they could not have been acquired legally because they were removed during the 1960s Biafran civil war, when the Igbo community attempted to secede from Nigeria.

"Growing up in Nigeria, we would pass by these destroyed and looted shrines and they would point to them, [saying] 'these were the shrines that were looted and destroyed during the war,'" he told the BBC.

The historian believes the loss of these sculptures has meant that a key part of Igbo cultural identity has been lost for future generations. He accused Christie's and other art collectors of "expropriation".

"To pretend we don't matter - what we think doesn't matter - is for me a recast of the colonial arrogance that we are still dealing with in other parts of the African continent," Prof Okeke-Agulu said.

Could there be another explanation?

But art historian Professor Clifford Nwanna, from Nigeria's Nnamdi Azikiwe University, says that more information is needed.
He says that in the past some local people chose to throw away some ritual objects or sell them.
This sometimes happened when people felt the object "was no longer potent" or stopped working as protection.
Prof Nwanna also points to the arrival of Christian missionaries in the area as another reason historically why some local people rendered the objects "as things that don't have much value".
"Some people were persuaded to do away with their gods, idols, and those statues," he adds.
He said the onus should be on the local community to call for the return of the items:
"They need to make a claim for the objects... because legally the community are the people that have the highest interest."

What does Christie's say?

It has defended the auction.
"The auction house believes there is no evidence these statues were removed from their original location by someone who was not local to the area, or that the area they came from at the time they were acquired was part of the conflict at the time," it said in a statement.
"Our understanding is that even prior to the conflict, local agents were trading in objects such as these and they were starting to circulate more widely," it said.
It added that at no stage "has there been any suggestion that these statues were subject to improper export".

How did the sculptures get to Paris?

According to Christie's, the sculptures were acquired by Jacques Kerchache, a French art collector and a close adviser to former French President Jacques Chirac.
But the auction house says it believes Mr Kerchache didn't travel to Nigeria in 1968/69 which suggests local agents were involved in initial trading, probably to Cameroon before shipment to Europe.

Nuel4:
whites own the world. Did anyone tied up our forefathers when these clowns were claiming continents upon continents?[/s]

Trapping:
Na mumu dey worry dem.

Originality007:
Iranian weed is the best

A rogue nation that shot down a civilian jet

Whyem15:
In a lawful and just world, Trump would be arrested and prosecuted immediately after finishing his term and losing his immunity because he was directly responsible for the murder of a country's official on diplomatic mission to another country. He not only committed murder, he also violated the law protecting diplomats all over the world.
But we all know that the US is a lawless country that twist the law to kill and bully other countries while threatening and punishing institutions of justice when the same laws it twist is applied to it, just like they sanctioned the judges of ICC for investigating the war crimes US and Israel committed.
The same country that placed sanctions on Russia for annexing Crimea and almost went to war because of it is the country telling the world that it is solely Israel's business whether they want to annex the Jordan Valley or not.
This arrest warrant will test the integrity of interpol whether it is just another organization used in bullying weak countries to submit to it.
The number of international laws, treaties and deals Trump has broken will put the next president in a very difficult situation because most of these deals took decades to sign by past president only for Trump to dismantle them because he felt they aren't favorable to US. Many governments around the world will be very cautious of making deals with the US because they have shown that they can cancel deals and treaties at will.
Let us not also forget that the US has illegally kept it's troops in Iraq 5 months after the people and government of Iraq had told them to leave.

illitrate:
But wait oo, what will they do for retaliating?

ovcwality:
If you don't stop spamming threads and asslicking trump, you will go to hell, this is spiritual

Antiochus:
He has lost already. He'll leave the white house through his bunker because the shame will be too much to bear..

Jimi24:
Homesexuality is not a crime. It is a curse. You have to be a completely ignorant person to support laws against gays. Govt has absolutely no right to outlaw a possible genetic or mental defect. Is sicle cell disease a crime?. Is dwarfism a crime?. A lot of Christians are going to hell because of the wrong attitude to gays. You should be praying and interceding for gays. Deliverance is possible. Don't judge, don't ostracize or you are falling into the devils trap.

Bbbwings:
Where were you when britain evacuated Diego Garcia Islanders for their military base
At least China is not stealing island like you said.

digitalman2811:
since China was foolish to have signed the agreement,she should have respected the agreement.

nelsonoba:
I knew these Marxists whose agenda as stated on their website includes "tearing down the nuclear family" and "promoting LGBTQ rights" would get to this at some point in one way or another. I pity those who are fooled to think BLM is "helping" black people

vioment:
Choi. I always taught white peoples creativity and ingenuity are cool like others, I gave them and still give them their respect. But this olaadegbu person loves to get on his knees to give their trouser zipper area a hourly appreciation.

Neddstark:
Fools, why you no go bend down select, collect pant of white people wey dey succeed better? Fool. Someone like him needs to be tortured before he does armed robbery.

OLAADEGBU:
You seem to know more than one of the founders of BLM?

OLAADEGBU:
"It’s never been clearer that far-left ideologies have overtaken American universities.

Political correctness, critical race theory, Marxism, gender theory and social justice are all concepts being taught mostly radical, leftist academics."

Righteousness89:
The signs of the end is everywhere. In the sun in the sky, in the star,on land, on sea, everywhere!

Living life Without JESUS is a great risk

Live Ready Folks!

Just any moment! The big one will hit the Earth!

Abbeybailey:
The same Trump that think Finland is in Russia or the same Trump that doesn't known Britain is a nuclear power.

Righteousness89:
The Globalist and Nwo proponents are all out against President Trump... He is the Physical major Hinderance to them..

[s]President Trump is Likely "The Last Trump" the Holy Bible spoke about.. [/s]

The End of all things is Much more closer than we imagine....

grandstar:
At the end of the day, how does your stance help the people of Hong Kong under the tyranny they face? That has always been my point.

grandstar:
Stop being petty. This the 21st century. Hong Kong was an extremely prosperous place when handed over and not a Banana republuc. Nowadays, most colonial territories under rich western nations tend to be prosperous or relatively prosperous compared to what was the norm 60 years ago.

Centuries ago, the standard was conquest in the West Now, it is devolvement, the Rule of Law and human rights.

And the issue here remains the rights of the interest of the people of the territory which you feel is a non issue. They should go die because Britain colonized then almost 180 years ago. I find this bizarre.

grandstar:
Is it about weak or strong or the rights of the people of Hong Kong?

It's just like the Bakassi issue? The issue was not about Cameroon or Nigeria. The people should have been given the option of self determination. They had a right to choose where they wanted to be. This option was even initially on the table.

For Hong Kong, the primary problem is Xi Jinpings autocratic and belligerent style. He is the epicenter. If someone else was premier, I'm sure this problem won't exist. China had a 1 China 2 systems policy 8n Hong Kong which worked very well. Xi is an autocrst through and through.

He has been going all over Southeast and Far east Asia throwing China's weight around and threatening the neighbours. He's been seizing disputed islands from neighbours, islands no more than uninhabited rocks.

etrange:
You quoted his dumb post to call me ignorant and here you are quick to abandon him.

If not for the colonization, a lot of things would have been different. There wouldn't have been a single nation called Nigeria, Nigeria wouldn't have been English speaking or Christian's, etc. How many of these things went back to the way they were 100 years later after colonization? None. Each territory and colony big enough evolved into independence because the people have, over the years, instituted a system for themselves. So why must HK go back to it's former status if the people of HK does not concent to it? It's not all about China vs the UK. The people being fought over should have a say. They could vote to stay, fine but nothing will settle all this dispute after that.

Your argument simply doesn't make sense. You can type all you want but there's no justification for denying the people of HK a referendum. Nothing at all.

Judybash93:
It's partially under their jurisdiction in the one state two systems thingy