Okpebholo’s action stunned German ambassador as envoy says “It cannot be true”
By Fola Ademosu
Annett Günther, German Ambassador to Nigeria, has displayed a shock over the decision of the Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo to revoke the land housing the Museum of West African Arts, sited in the state capital, Benin City.
“This doesn’t seem to be true,” a shocked Günther said. According to the envoy, “the Governor’s Office”, only the previous day, had “assured me yesterday that re MOWAA nothing has been revoked.” The diplomat went on say that the Governor Okpehbolo declared the media reports of the revocation as “a social media scam.”
“We will all work in good faith with the committee established by HE President Tinubu,” she said.
Cornet News gathered that Okpebholo, reportedly, took the action as a reaction to a protest that disrupted a recent event held at the museum, attended by some diplomats. The protesters, purportedly, are linked to the Palace of the Oba of Benin.
Some media reports claimed that Governor Okpebholo feigned ignorance of the event. He then went on to proclaim the revocation of the land, in exercise of his power. The governor said that the land – which former governor Godwin Obaseki allotted for the construction of the museum during his tenure – had now reverted to its original purpose (a hospital).
Just on Monday, Okpehbolo had led some European diplomats to the Palace of the Oba of Benin. Therein, the Oba reportedly accused then governor Obaseki of attempting to “mortgage” the rights of the Benin people over their ancestral artefacts. But, MOWAA denied either holding or parading any Benin Bronzes.
“There are no Benin Bronzes on display at the Museum, nor have there ever been,” MOWAA said in its statement.
In his intervention, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu inaugurated a committee, led by Senator Adam Oshiomhole, to handle the disagreement between MOWAA and Oba’s palace.
