₦airaland Forum

Christie's proceeds with sale of artifacts, says the transaction lawful given that objects were sold at past auctions.

Auction house Christie's has gone ahead with a sale of statues which Nigerian museum officials said were stolen during the country's civil war in the 1960s.

Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments had demanded Christie's stop the sale of the artifacts, which were collected by an art dealer and adviser of the late French President Jacques Chirac.

But at Monday's auction in Paris, the pair of "museum quality" Igbo statues were sold for 212,500 euros ($239,000). Meanwhile, a "major Urhobo statue" estimated at 900,000 euros ($1m) failed to sell.

The three pieces from southern Nigeria were among a number of "African masterpieces" that Christie's said came from an "important European private collection" they declined to name.

However, the head of the National Museum in Nigeria's Benin City had said the objects were stolen during the Biafran war that raged in the late 1960s and appealed to Christie's "and other auction houses to halt the process immediately".

"They have to repatriate such works and pay compensation to us in the interest of natural justice," Theophilus Umogbai said.

Chika Okeke-Agulu, a Princeton scholar who also raised alarm earlier this month that the objects were looted, said the pieces are "an important part of Nigeria's art and cultural heritage".

"Nations and societies value the examples of the great art and cultures of their ancestors," he told Al Jazeera.

"So to have this set of objects that were stolen from eastern Nigeria during the civil war up for sale when we should be discussing the terms of their return because they were illegally taken out of Nigeria, that's why I started the call for repatriation."

Okeke-Agulu said the objects were taken through "an act of violence" and should not be sold. An online petition with the hashtags #BlackArtsMatter and #MyHeritageMatters collected more than 3,000 signatures demanding the auction be halted.

Christie's refused to stop the sale, saying the objects had been previously sold at a major international art fair.

In a statement to the Associated Press news agency, the auction house said: "These objects are being lawfully sold having been publicly exhibited and previously sold over the last decades prior to Christie's involvement."

While Christie's said it recognised the "nuanced and complex debates around cultural property", it said public sales of objects like these should go ahead to stop the black market flourishing.

It said there was "verifiable documented provenance" that the objects were taken out of Nigeria before 2000, as the law required.

Christie's said the objects were most likely traded by local agents before being sold to Jacques Kerchache, the French art dealer, in Cameroon or in Paris.

"We believe that this type of statue would not have been sold without the agreement of local chiefs/leaders."

But Mallam Abdu Aliyu, of Nigeria's museums commission, said they were convinced the objects were taken illegally.

"For years, we have clamoured for the repatriation of these works to no avail. We have been negotiating through dialogue and diplomacy to have these works brought back to their original owners," he told AFP news agency.

"We have written a letter of protest to Christie's ... and are going to engage Christie's and museums in the UK, Germany and other nations where our artefacts had been allegedly taken."

The repatriation of artworks and religious objects looted by European powers during the colonial era has become a political hot potato, with several African and Asian nations demanding the return of treasures.

French President Emmanuel Macron caused an earthquake in the museum world in 2019 by ordering the return of 26 treasures to Benin, which borders Nigeria.

A report he commissioned also recommended the return of objects removed without consent during the colonial period if their countries of origin asked for them.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2020/06/auction-stolen-nigerian-treasures-paris-200629184454077.html

Tecno, Infinix, Xaomi fan boys and marketers, come and see your phones for the e-sim list oh

"Brother"........

phemmyfour:
That might not even be his pix

Exactly. The OP na learner. He caught a scammer with a shaky grip, like not wearing a grip to hold something slippery. Now d scammer don escape. Many scammers use stolen pix and impersonate identities a lot. So dat might not be d scammer's real pix, or it could be, but nothing to guarantee it. Since he already knew that d guy na scammer from d stupid format d idiot drop, what the OP should have done was to play along to d point dat he asks for d scammer's bank account details, dat he should give him his account details so he can transfer d 20K to him. Assuming he got d guy's bank account details, den he is traceable and his identity can be discovered. Even if he dey use another person's bank account, once they catch that one, they can catch the scammer thru him. But anyhow, at least d OP was intelligent enough not to fall for d dumbest scam trick I have ever read in my life. I was just laughing reading it, looks like a damn comedy. 20K for sarz otp registration, kikikiki, what kinda extremely dumb sheet is dat

[img]https://media1./images/0532d04fec317b7e5412e77749725472/tenor.gif?itemid=16416203[/img]

Ok

onward4life:
Pomade


Wetin fine for this wan body

E no fine nothing

na 9ja way, anything extremely fair is fine for their eyes

Edopesin:
otp for SARS work

Kikikikiki, u go fear format na

Nawa oh, tins dey happen. OP search the number in Nairaland maybe you will find a user attached to it, make the thief yansh open.

May God continue to have mercy on me, Amen

God reigns supreme! May God continue to have mercy on me, Amen!

Wiseandtrue:
Akpabio came with the intention to mislead Nigerians because he didn't cover up and collapsed like Pondei

He said it to their face that over 90% of the contracts are awarded to them

Femi Gbajabiamila is a shame to whatever the national assembly stands for

Gbajabiamila na House of ReprentaThieves na. Na Lawan b National AssemTHIEVES

Starz825:
U got it wrong....

If u a play a bet on bet9ja (don't know Abt other bet)....if I get your bet i.d....i can type it on bet9ja site without logging in to anybody's account...it will bring out the results..
Thats the way the site was developed ...

ok, thanks for better explanation. Didn't know this

LilMissRobbie:
Na so dem dey start, before you know it they will start killing innocent people that didn't do nothing to hurt them.

Na dia way. Before u know it, dey will turn it to a religious war and start killing innocents

Anyhow they want to do the vaccines, they should do, but they should not use African people as guinea pigs for their experiments

cpu2006:
Can he provide us the account details of beneficiary? I mean the indigenes.
Ole, Oloriburuku

the "indigenes" dey Abuja

Kikikiki

LASEPA seals Farm City ? How those Lekki Hoeloshos wan take chop now ? Dat place na their spot

Wow

Yet we are selling the same oil

Isn't God is good. The thieves are beginning to expose themselves. National AssemTHIEVES. Upon all the massive stealing, endless looting, outrageous salaries and allowances etc, upn all the high profile govt jobs that they cornered everything, the bloody thieves will still be dragging NPower slots of 30K to share for themselves. God will punish all dis crooks sucking dis country dry and causing poverty for others while they live like wealthy gods in this land. They have shared the whole country for themselves alone. Later they will call themselves Honorable. But these bloody thieves have no single honor. Dishonorable thieves..... tuueeehh!!!!!!