Nigeria vested ownership of the looted Benin Bronzes in the Oba of Benin in 2023

In February 1897 a British force of about 1,200 troops took Benin City, capital of the Kingdom of Benin in today's Nigeria. The troops occupied and ransacked the royal palace and took between 3,000 and 5,000 objects: brass plaques, cast heads, ivory and regalia. The British Admiralty sold many at auction to pay for the expedition. Oba Ovonramwen was held in the Old Residency at Calabar in 1897 and kept in exile there. He died in Calabar in 1914. His son was installed as Oba Eweka II in July 1914. In 2022 museums began transferring title. The Smithsonian transferred 29 objects to Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) on 11 October 2022 and kept 9 on loan. The Horniman Museum transferred 72 on 28 November 2022 and sent 6 home. Germany handed over 20 in Abuja on 20 December 2022. On 23 March 2023 President Muhammadu Buhari declared that ownership of artefacts looted from the palace "is vested in the Oba" and that custody passes to the Oba on their arrival in Nigeria. The University of Cambridge postponed its return of 116 objects. In 2025 the NCMM signed a five-year agreement to manage the returned bronzes on behalf of Oba Ewuare II. In February 2026 Cambridge said about 100 objects would go to Nigeria within months. The returned pieces are held by the NCMM, including in its Oba Ovonramwen storage facility in Benin City.