The Museum of Fine Arts in the US city of Boston has returned two of the famed Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, authorities in the West African nation said late on Monday.

The move represents “the return of a huge part of Nigeria’s history,” Olugbile Holloway, the head of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), said.

“As much as this occasion is symbolic to Benin, it is also symbolic to Nigeria’s struggle,” he added.

The Benin Bronzes are hundreds of sculptures and plaques that were looted from the royal palace in the Kingdom of Benin, part of modern-day Nigeria, after British forces captured Benin City in 1897.

The priceless artworks, believed to have been crafted in Benin starting in the 1500s, were taken as spoils of war and today are scattered in museums and private collections across the world.

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Western museums, including those in Britain, the Netherlands and Germany, have returned several hundred of the artefacts, but hundreds more are believed to be still missing.

Benin’s traditional rulers and Nigerian authorities have for years been negotiating their return.

Calling the returns from the Boston museum a “historic moment”, Nigeria’s culture minister, Hannatu Musa Musawa, said those “conversations” were ongoing “and soon, the process of returning them all to their rightful owners will begin.”

The Benin Bronzes have been a source of tension within Nigeria, with Benin’s traditional ruler, the Oba, insisting that the artefacts belong to him as the ruler of Benin and the descendant of the royal family from whose palace they were plundered.

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Last week, Britain and South Africa returned to a Ghanaian traditional king over 130 gold and bronze artefacts taken between the 1870s and the early 20th century, his palace announced.

Asante king Otumfuo Osei Tutu II received the artefacts at the Manhyia Palace Museum in the Asante capital Kumasi on Sunday, a royal statement said.

The items included royal regalia, drums and ceremonial gold weights and depict governance systems, spiritual beliefs and the role of gold in Asante society.

Their return comes as pressure mounts on Western museums and institutions to address the restitution of African artefacts plundered by colonial powers such as Britain, France, Germany and Belgium.

READ ALSO:Benin Monarch Receives 119 Stolen Artefacts, Says Efforts To Re-loot Thwarted

At the ceremony, the Asante king thanked AngloGold Ashanti, a South African mining company, for returning several items purchased on the open market. The mining giant returned some artefacts to Ghana in 2024.

The latest repatriation included 110 artefacts from the Barbier-Muller Museum collection in Geneva, assembled by collector Josef Muller in 1904.

Twenty-five other items were donated by British art historian Hermione Waterfield, who established the Tribal Art Department at Christie’s in 1971.

According to art historian and Manhyia Palace Museum director Ivor Agyeman-Duah, Waterfield’s gifts included a wooden drum believed to have been seized during the 1900 siege of Kumasi by British forces.

In 2024, the Manhyia Palace Museum received 67 restituted or loaned cultural objects from institutions including London’s British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum and the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles.

The Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ethiope East Local Council, Delta State, Mr Ese Idisi, murdered.

Idisi was killed by unidentified assailants in the Okpara Waterside community, a development that has sent shockwaves through political and community circles.

The killing has sparked outrage and deep concern within the APC in Delta State.

The party, in a strongly worded statement, described Idisi’s death as a “brutal and condemnable killing” that has devastated its state chapter.

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In the statement, the APC State Publicity Secretary, Mr Valentine Onojeghuo, called on security agencies to conduct a “thorough, uncompromising, and professional investigation” into what he described as a “cruel and senseless murder.”

He insisted that “the perpetrators, sponsors, and anyone connected to this heinous act must be identified, apprehended, and brought to justice without delay. Nothing short of a full-scale investigation will suffice in the prevailing circumstances.”

The party extended its condolences to Idisi’s family, describing him as a loyal, committed, and dependable party stalwart whose death had created a painful void in his community and within APC’s Ethiope East Ward 4.

“His death is not just a loss; it is a heavy blow that has plunged the Party into mourning,” he added.

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The spokesperson for the Delta State Police Command, SP Bright Edafe, confirmed the incident.

He said the command received a report of the killing and had opened an investigation.

“We got a report that he was murdered and we are presently investigating,” Edafe said, adding that details surrounding the incident remained unclear as of press time.

Imo State Police Command has concluded arrangements for the arraignment of five men who brutalised a woman, Mrs. Ndudiamaka Agu, in Emekuku, Owerri North Local Government Area of the state.

A viral video, which has been circulating for more than a week, shows how the men allegedly manhandled the woman, including lifting and throwing her heavily against a building wall, leading to public outcry.

The men were said to have approached Agu unexpectedly in her marital home and attacked her because she was suspected of cooperating with some policemen during their visit to carry out an investigation in the community.

In a statement issued on Monday evening, the spokesperson for the command, Henry Okoye, regretted that one of the men had run away, stating that the police were in pursuit of him to arrest him.

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The statement disclosed that the Commissioner of Police (CP), Aboki Danjuma, had assured that justice would be served in the matter.

Okoye, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said: “The Imo State Police Command wishes to provide an update on the investigation ordered by the Commissioner of Police, CP Aboki Danjuma, into the viral video showing Mrs. Agu Ndididamaka being assaulted in Emekuku, Owerri North LGA. In furtherance of the CP’s directive for swift action, operatives of the X-Squad Unit have arrested five suspects linked to the barbaric assault.”

The arrested suspects are Onyekachi Njoku, 40 years ‘m’; Chiazor Osuji, 45 years ‘m’; Chukwuma Iwuala, 46 years ‘m’; Eugene Njoku, ‘m’; Njoku Emmanuel, 35 years ‘m’ all of Uboegbelu in Emekuku in Owerri North LGA.”

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) disclosed, “All five suspects have made confessional statements admitting their roles in the attack.”

READ ALSO:Police Restores Peace After Bomb Explosion Rocks Imo Community

“Meanwhile, the sixth suspect, identified as Onyedikachi Njoku, is still at large, and operatives are intensifying efforts to apprehend him.”

On the extent reached to take the suspects to the court, he explained: “The Commissioner of Police condemns the assault in its entirety and reaffirms that intimidation of citizens who lawfully cooperate with the Police will not be tolerated. The arrested suspects will be arraigned in court soon with the appropriate criminal charges.”

The Guardian recalled that soon after the men assaulted Agu, many Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) took up the matter, escalating that the suspects must be apprehended, arraigned, and justice served.