SHOCKING!
Whereas Briton KC
Murray lost his life over Nigerian
artefacts, native museum officials abandon objects seized more than 4 months ago
at Seme border
By MAURICE
ARCHIBONG (+2348056180050),
mauricearchibongtravels@gmail.com
More
than four months since 18 artefacts were seized from a suspected trafficker,
the objects are still lying at Government Warehouse Seme because no official of
the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) would come forward to
collect them.
Shockingly,
it has also come to light that a curator of one of Nigeria’s National Museums
actually said it was impossible to facilitate transfer of the artefacts as
there was no money to procure fuel for the vehicle that would have been used
for the journey!
One of the seized artefacts. PHOTO: MAURICE ARCHIBONG. All Rights Reserved. |
Interestingly,
a distance of less than 100km separates Onikan, where Lagos Museum is located,
and Seme Border. Initially, museum officers had blamed their inability to go
for the objects on an industrial action by NCMM workers at the time.
Although
Nigeria’s NCMM employees launched a nationwide strike last 20 November over
allegations of corruption and ineptitude on the part of the government agency’s
director general, National Museums had reopened since December.
Going
by theme and style of execution, the seized brass sculptures, which include a
pair of leopards, a huge python, a bare-breasted maiden on her knees bearing a
present of kolanuts, a Portuguese soldier, and an intricately crafted gong; all
hint at Bini (ancient Benin City) Art.
From
a privileged preview by this writer last November, the averagely heavy (over
10kg) artefacts, appeared to be precious shrine/palace objects. If none of the
18 objects turns out to be some priceless antique pieces, then they must be
excellent imitations.
Whereas
this writer gave the phone numbers of two NCMM top-shots to the public
relations officer of the local customs’ command, Mr. Ernest Ollotah, since October
last year; a museum official finally turned up with a letter at Seme border on
Thursday, 13 February; more than 130 days since the seizure was made by Nigerian
Customs Service (NCS) personnel covering Seme area!
Mr.
Ollotah, told us during a telephone conversation on Friday, 14 February; that:
“They (NCMM) brought their response to a letter we sent to them on these
objects to our office yesterday (13 February)”. The customs letter to NCMM was
delivered weeks earlier.
Tuesday,
4 February 2014 marked 121 days since the artefacts were impounded, and during
an earlier conversation, on that day, Ollotah had revealed: “On 4 February, I had,
again, called head of Lagos Museum, Mrs. (Edith) Ekunke to find out when they
were coming to pick the artefacts. The woman confirmed they had received our
letter and added that the museum had sent a reply to us. Lagos Museum curator
said their reply was basically a request to customs to inform museum of a date
to come for the artefacts’ collection. However, we have not received their
reply as we speak (7 February)”.
On
21 January, 111 days since the items were intercepted, we had returned to Seme
Border; where the local custom’s chief, Comptroller Willie Egbudin, confirmed
the items were still in the custody of his para-military agency. During a brief
chat with this writer, who was led to Egbudin’s office by Ollotah; the area
controller revealed: “I have just been briefed of the artefacts’ seizure only
today (21 January, 2014)”.
Egbudin
added that, after being informed, his command planned to send a letter to the
NCMM to come for the objects’ collection. This comptroller further revealed
that, from information given to him by subordinates, the suspect that was
conveying the artefacts had been arraigned in court.
Although
the identity of the male suspect was not revealed, Egbudin said he learnt the
man was no longer in detention, having been granted bail when he was arraigned.
By some uncanny coincidence, however, both then local customs controller and
the officer-in-Charge of Government Warehouse Seme, Othman Saleh and A.
Odediran respectively; were redeployed from Seme within a month after the
monumental seizure was recorded.
Although
handing-over and taking-over processes by the outgoing and incoming officials
might have contributed to the months-long delay before the incumbent controller
was briefed, Ollotah told his boss that NCMM chiefs, when he first contacted
them in late October 2013, lamented they could do nothing as National Museums
across Nigeria were on strike.
Following
persistent calls, Ollotah said he was subsequently informed that the industrial
action had been called off. But, when he asked when museum officers were coming
to collect the artefacts; the local customs’ PRO claimed a management staff of
Lagos Museum pleaded with him to convey the objects to Onikan because the
museum had no money for fuel!
To
worsen matters, discrepancy now shrouds the actual number of artefacts seized.
Whereas this writer counted 18 objects during a 22 November, 2013 visit; the
content of an official memo leaked to us claims; “Number of items seized: 10”.
Numerous
attempts to speak with Nigeria’s Culture and Tourism Minister, Chief Edem Duke,
regarding the perceived abandoned artefacts have thus far proven futile.
Although the minister took one of our calls, meaningful conversation was made
impossible due to network challenges.
Although
we succeeded in speaking with Dr Musa Hambolu, NCMM Director of Planning,
Research and Publications; and, Mrs. Edith Ekunke, Curator of National Museum
Lagos; every effort to reach Mr. Yusuf Abdallah Usman, NCMM Director General
drew blank as he would not take our call.
Nigerian
museums’ British nexus
Many
would be bewildered, that indigenous leaders of Nigerian museums could ignore
18 artefacts at a border post for more than 120 days, whereas a Briton, Mr. KC
(Kenneth Crosthwaite) Murray practically lost his life in 1972 to efforts at
preserving African art objects.
Born in England in 1902, Mr. Murray
initially worked as art teacher in the British colonial service. Nigeria’s
legendary artist Ben Enwuonwu was one of Murray’s pupils at some point. In
1943, Murray was appointed founding chief of Nigeria’s museum service and he
subsequently retired in 1957, after the launch of Lagos
Museum earlier that year. However, he
was recalled and reappointed Director, Department of Antiquities, following the
retirement of his successor, another Brit, Bernard Fagg.
From an article published in Nigerian
Heritage and entiled Kenneth
Murray, Father of Museum Movement in Nigeria, by Vicky James; we learnt
that, long after retirement, Murray was still
working for Nigeria .
In fact, he died; at the age of 69 on Saturday, 22 April, 1972; while on his
way to install exhibits for the new Benin
Museum building.
Apparently fearing for the safety
of some precious artefacts, he chose to ride in the Volkswagen bus conveying specimens
of Benin Art from the national collection; and, reportedly died after a fatal
collision due to an attempt by his driver to overtake a truck at a bend on the
Ijebu-Benin road. The tragic accident, it could be recalled, occurred less than
three weeks after Nigeria changed from Left to Right-hand drive.
In appreciation of Murray ’s 40 years of dedication to Art and Education in Nigeria ,
he was honoured with a traditional funeral, apparently as he would have liked.
In fact, during his lying-in-state at the Lagos Museum ;
an Egungun
(masquerade) appeared at his coffin’s side.
Additionally, two groups of
drummers as well as hundreds of Nigerians and Ghanaians accompanied his body to
attend a Requiem Mass at the Saint Saviour’s Church. The way into the church
was paved by members of various associations he had helped to found. Murray’s
remains were eventually interred at Ikoyi
Cemetery on 4 May, 1972.
Apart
from KC Murray, as the late man was fondly called, many other deceased Britons
must be turning in their graves over perceived crass negligence on the part of
current NCMM fat-cats regarding these 18 artefacts. Nigeria’s National Museums,
which is a unit of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM),
evolved principally from the efforts of British citizens.
In
fact, two Britons, Messrs Murray and Bernard Fagg, an archaeologist, were the
first two chiefs of the NCMM, after the institution was created in 1943.
Collectively, Murray and Fagg steered the NCMM ship successfully for almost 25
years: from 1943 to 1967. Furthermore, today’s famed Igbo Ukwu Art owes largely
to excavations carried out by a British anthropologist Thurstan Shaw.
Shaw
was Professor of Archaeology at the University of Ibadan from 1963 to 1974. For
his efforts, the native community in today’s Anambra State town of Igbo Ukwu
conferred on British-born Shaw an Igbo chieftaincy title: Onu-nekulu-ora (World
spokesman of Igbo Ukwu).
Aside
from the fore-runner British citizens, which included and Mr. Frank Willet,
whose work led to the emergence of Nigerian museums and the popularity of
ancient Nigerian Art; latter-day arrivals like Keith Nicklin also left
indelible marks. The late Mr. Nicklin, it is worth reminding, spearheaded the
reconstruction of Oron Museum, which had been set ablaze after being looted
during the Nigerian civil war: 1967-1970.
Britain
and Benin Art
Benin
Court Art includes a Memorial Head, Queen Mother Head, Oba’s
Horn Blower and Leopard (usually made of brass or
bronze). However, the Queen Idia plaque, a 16th century
ivory sculpture depicting facial features of the mother of Oba Esigie, one of
the kings of ancient Benin Kingdom; is arguably the most popular of Nigeria’s
classical antiquity pieces.
Queen
Idia plaque was adopted symbol of the second World Festival of Arts and Culture
(FESTAC), which took place in Lagos, Nigeria in 1977. Interestingly, however, the
original Queen Idia, believed to be one of the artefacts looted from Benin
during the British invasion of 1897, can only be viewed in the UK, since it is
now part of British Museum’s collection.
Are Nigerian museum
objects safer abroad?
Are
Nigerian antiquities safe at home or are they better-off overseas? This is a
question many observers have difficulty coming up with a simple “yes” or “no”
response to.
In
1985, I spent about a month visiting the British Museums, including London’s
Museum of Natural History. Wherever we found Nigerian antiquity, the object was
well looked after. Apart from excellent display or storage of the artefacts
under controlled ambience, various alarms and other security devices as well as
insurance also protected each object.
In
September 2000, spent two days in the company of Dr. Hans Joachim Koloss, then
Director of the Africa Section of Germany’s Ethnographic Museum located in the Dahlem
Dorf neighbourhood of Berlin.
My
visit coincided with a long-running exhibition, which brought on view hundreds
of antique objects from Nigeria as well as other African countries. Reflecting
Germany’s deep interest in Africa, that Ausstellung
of principally Cameroon (Kamerun) artefacts, opened in this ethnographic museum,
launched in 1873, as far back as 1926.
During
my tour, with the privilege of having Dr Koloss as guide, when I discovered
that numerous antiquities of Nigerian origin formed part of the major exhibits;
I had turned, somewhat reflexively, on Dr. Koloss, for explanation as to why
these antiquities, which included many bronze and terra cotta sculptures from
Benin, Ife and Nok; had not been returned to Nigeria.
In
response, Koloss, who was installed an African chief by Oku Community in
Cameroon, where he once lived and worked for decades, simply asked for my
candid opinion as to the wisdom or otherwise of returning the works to Nigeria.
Holding
my ground, apparently for patriotic reasons, I reminded this curator of various
international bodies’ position, which is that illegally acquired artefacts
should be returned to their native lands.
But,
Koloss, who probably knew that I was aware of the curious exchange of two Nok
terra cotta pieces between a former Nigerian president and an ex-French leader,
tactfully dropped the debate. Aware that the man was also abreast of reports of
brazen theft of antiquities plaguing Nigerian museums, I decided to not discuss
the issue of return of antiquities to Nigeria any further.
If
these items hadn’t been taken to what now appeared safe havens, would they not have
been sold or mishandled by people supposed to preserve them? This was the muse
that rankled in my mind.
Nigeria is
worst-hit
Nigeria
is the hardest-hit country as far as antiquity looting and trafficking are
concerned, going by an expose on Nigeria’s antiquity flight, published in the African
Art News, co-written by Simon Robinson and Aisha Labi. “Over the past
two decades, museums (in Nigeria) have been robbed of hundreds of their most
valuable items”, according to these authors.
The
duo recalled an infamous burglary, in 1994, (actually one of three within 12
months); when thieves in collusion with a museum guard drugged the other guards
and went on to smash the glass of 11 unsecured, and uninsured, display cases at
the National Museum in Ile-Ife.
“Their
haul, which included some of the best-known examples of 12th and 13th century
Ife terra-cotta and brass heads, was worth an estimated $200million (roughly
N30billion)”, the same article revealed.
Although
some seizures are recorded by various agencies at different ports, from time to
time, speculation is rife that countless pieces of antique objects are still
slipping through Nigeria’s borders.
Penalty
Nigerian
law forbids selling, buying or export of any antique object. However, the
penalty for breaching law could be described as laughable. Section 21 of Decree
77 (1979), which deals with Nigeria’s Antiquity Law, bans the buying or selling
of antique object; has it that any person deemed to have contravened this statute
would be liable, on conviction, to a fine of N2,000 (less than £10).
Observers
believe mild penalty prescribed by law is one of the reasons antiquity
traffickers persist. Smugglers and collectors of antiquity also do not see much
to deter them, moreso as efforts to prosecute an offender is often cumbersome
and protracted.
In
one instance, it took museum authorities six years to get an Abeokuta Court in
Ogun State, south-western Nigeria, to grant the NCMM custody of some antique
items seized from a smuggler at Idiroko, another south-western Nigerian border
town next to Igolo in Benin Republic.
Smugglers
are also probably unperturbed by the provision of the law, which states that
the culprit would pay a fine, five times the value of the antiquities. In one
legal tussle, the items the smuggler was going to take out were worth
N9million. On conviction, he should have paid a fine of N45 million; but, how
many of these vermin, who were driven into smuggling by poverty in the first
place, could cough out such staggering sum? The thinking is that the culprit
would simply have gone in to serve his term, and return to antiquity
trafficking, a more vicious and hardened character, after being released from
jail.
Perceived
administrative flaws on the part of NCMM management complement smugglers’
nuisance regarding antiquity flight. To get to the point of preserving and
displaying objects for public education and entertainment, a museum must
collect such.
To
curb the flight of Nigerian heritage objects, NCMM used to collect objects from
registered agents, dubbed artefact rescuers. However, the NCMM has been owing
40 of these rescuers about N190million (barely £800,000) since 2009.
During
chats with this writer, some of these agents averred that, failure by the NCMM
to pay them for almost five years has probably encouraged those who stumbled on
antique pieces to look to foreign buyers.
Vanishing
treasures
In
1997, during an International Council of Museums (ICOM)-organised “Workshop on
the Protection of the African Heritage Working Documents”, the then Director
General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Dr. Yaro
T. Gella, raised due alarm over the spate of looting of the Esie steatite
(soapstone) sculptures in a paper titled “Thefts in Museums: A Report on the
Nigerian Situation 1993-1997”.
In
that paper, Dr. Gella revealed that Esie Museum had “become a target for
looters”. According to Dr. Gella, “On 25 March 1993, 13 statues were stolen
after the museum’s main door was forced open and the guards beaten into
submission. On 13 May 1995, the same museum was once again broken into and the
security staff again attacked. On this occasion, 21 statuettes disappeared”.
Sadly,
the disappearance of Nigerian museum objects had been taking place at least 100
years before 1997. Apart from the looting of Benin palace artefacts during the
1897 punitive expedition instigated by Consul James R. Phillips, a 1938 report
written by E. H. Duckworth, an Inspector of Education in the then colonial
Nigerian government; had revealed: “A few years ago, one of the shrines outside
the town (Ife) possessed a collection of over 40 terracotta heads. Now, they
have all been stolen or broken”.
In
deed, a critical loss was recorded in 1910 during the sojourn of Leo Frobenius
in Nigeria. Frobenius, a German-born anthropologist, ethnologist and explorer
had visited Ife in the course of his exploration in Nigeria between 1910 and
1912. In Ife, Frobenius had unearthed some spectacular finds, one of which was
“Ori Olokun” (“Ori” means head, while “Olokun” is the Yoruba water deity). On
his way back from Ife, Frobenius had been accosted by then colonial Resident in
Ibadan, Mr. Charles Partridge, who compelled the German explorer to surrender
most of his haul. Curiously, however, 100 years after that encounter; the
whereabouts and what happened to the original object Frobenius was made to hand
over remains a mystery.
To
date, the illegal trade in cultural property thrives, going by statistics which
indicate that antiquity trafficking is not about to abate. Some 84 years after
Frobenius’ interception at Ibadan, in November 1994 to be precise; “The French
police seized three terracotta heads stolen from the National Museum Gallery,
Ile-Ife, Nigeria”. “Looting in Africa”, the second volume in the series,
"One Hundred Missing Objects", published in 1994; led to the recovery
or locating of some missing antiquity including the three terracotta heads
found by the “Office central de lutte contre le trafic des biens culturels
(OCBC)”, according to ICOM (International Council of Museums). The items were
returned to Nigerian on 31 May, 1996.
Another
seizure, on 15 October, 1996; featured a trove consisting of terracotta and
bronze sculptures, traditional spears, woodcarvings and other archaeological
pieces. The items, whose collective value was put at above N100million, were to
be flown to Belgium, when they were impounded. Only six days before that
incident, 33 ritual mortars worth N3million were intercepted as they were being
taken abroad illegally.
On
16 October, 1996 Nigeria recorded one of the most disturbing seizures. It
involved 77 objects, stuffed in nine cartons. Nigeria’s National Commission for
Museums and Monuments’ authorities put the value of these antiquities at over
N1billion. The antique pieces, destined for Germany, were impounded at the
cargo section of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
Similarly,
a dozen artefacts with an estimated worth of N335,000 were seized at the Kamba
border post in Kebbi State on 12 March, 1997. In his statement to
security agents, the suspected smuggler, a 24-year old Nigerian, claimed he was
travelling to Lome, Togo to apply for visas to visit Europe. He said it was his
search for presents for prospective hosts in Europe that led to his removal of
12 antique pieces from a technical college in Andoka, Benue State. The objects
were consequently impounded, since the young man had no clearance papers
covering their exportation.
Although,
many seizures were recorded from January to April 1997, the interceptions
peaked in the first month of the second quarter where, within one week (17-24
April), five seizures were recorded at Nigeria’s extreme south-western
frontier, called Seme Border. One of these seizures (on 21 April), involved a
42-year-old Gambian, from whom 12 items of antiquity were recovered. Barely
three weeks later, on 12 May, two bronze bangles were seized from a US-bound
passenger, who turned up at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos
with clearance papers for a pair of bronze manilas measuring 10 by 10 inches but attempted
to take out two 12 by 31 inches and 12 by 32 inches pieces,
instead.
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