Editorial:Ewuare II at 10: The Oba, the Bronzes and Benin’s Reawakening

 

There are moments when history appears to return home. In July 2026, when 18 Benin artefacts returned from Switzerland were presented to Oba Ewuare II, the monarch danced.

The gesture was spontaneous, but its meaning was profound. Among the objects was an ancestral head of a Benin monarch, taken during the British punitive expedition of 1897. After more than 125 years away from the land and people whose history they embodied, some of Benin's treasures had finally come home.

That moment captures something essential about the first decade of Oba Ewuare II's reign.

Since ascending the throne on October 20, 2016, the Oba has presided over a period in which the ancient Benin Kingdom has sought not merely to preserve its past, but to reclaim its voice in the present.

The significance of that effort goes beyond bronze.

It is about memory, identity, cultural ownership and the right of a people to tell their own history.

The Benin Bronzes are not simply museum pieces. They are records of a sophisticated civilisation, expressions of royal authority, spirituality and artistic excellence, and tangible links between present-day Edo people and generations that came before them.

For decades, much of this heritage remained scattered across museums and private collections outside Nigeria. The campaign for restitution has therefore become one of the defining features of the Ewuare II era.

The return of artefacts from Europe has given new urgency to an old question: who has the right to possess, interpret and preserve the cultural inheritance of a people?

The Oba's answer has been consistent. Benin's heritage belongs first and foremost to the people whose ancestors created it.

 A Diplomat on the Throne

Oba Ewuare II came to the throne with an unusual preparation for the international responsibilities that would accompany it.

Before becoming monarch, he served Nigeria as a diplomat, including as ambassador to Sweden, with concurrent accreditation to Norway, Denmark and Finland, and subsequently to Angola and Italy.

That experience has been visible in his reign.

The Benin Palace has increasingly become a meeting point between traditional authority and international diplomacy. Presidents, vice presidents, governors, traditional rulers, diplomats, scholars, museum officials and cultural representatives have passed through its doors.

But diplomacy under Ewuare II has not been confined to receiving dignitaries.

The Oba has taken the Benin story beyond the palace, using international relationships to draw attention to the history of the 1897 invasion and the continuing question of restitution.

According to the Royal Palace, more than 150 original looted Benin artefacts have been received by the Royal Court since his accession. The Netherlands returned 119 objects in June 2025, followed by Switzerland's return of 18 objects in July 2026.

Each return represents more than the physical movement of an object.

It is an acknowledgement that colonial history has consequences in the present.

And it is a reminder that cultural diplomacy can sometimes achieve what political declarations alone cannot.

 Reclaiming Memory

Yet the recovery of artefacts is only one part of the larger story.

A kingdom can recover its objects and still lose its history if it fails to preserve the knowledge surrounding them.

This is why the emphasis placed on historical documentation during the Ewuare II reign is important.

The monarch commissioned _The Benin Monarch: An Anthology of Benin History_, widely known as the **Red Book**, an extensive attempt to document Benin history from the Ogiso period through successive dynasties and into the modern monarchy.

The Oba Erediauwa Annual Lecture Series has likewise created a forum for scholars and intellectuals to engage with Benin's history, culture and contemporary challenges.

These initiatives address a fundamental problem.

For too long, the history of African societies was often recorded, interpreted and presented primarily through colonial or foreign perspectives.

Benin's history is too important to be left entirely to others to define.

The recovery of artefacts must therefore go hand in hand with the recovery of historical confidence.

A people that knows its history is better equipped to understand its present and negotiate its future.

 Tradition Must Live

Perhaps one of the most significant aspects of the Ewuare II reign has been the effort to demonstrate that tradition is not synonymous with stagnation.

The restoration of the institution of the Queen Mother is a striking example.

During the reign, the Oba's late mother, Princess Ikuoyemwen Akenzua, was posthumously installed as **Iyeoba N'Uselu**, reviving an institution associated with the ancient Benin monarchy.

Such an act may appear ceremonial to an outsider.

It is not.

Institutions are the vessels through which societies transmit memory. Titles, rituals, festivals, language and palace structures give tangible form to a people's understanding of continuity.

In that sense, restoration is not simply about recreating the past.

It is about deciding which elements of the past remain meaningful enough to carry into the future.

The Palace and the People

The relevance of a traditional institution, however, cannot be measured only by ceremonies and historical symbolism.

It must also be measured by its relationship with ordinary people.

Here, the palace has increasingly sought to occupy a role beyond ritual authority.

The introduction of an open mediation process at the Ugha-Ozolua palace ground, through which women could present grievances directly before the Oba, and the establishment of a Benin Customary Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee point to an evolving conception of traditional leadership.

The palace can be a place of reconciliation as well as ceremony.

It can provide a space where community disputes are heard, where customary knowledge meets contemporary legal principles, and where dialogue can prevent disagreements from becoming deeper conflicts.

That does not replace the constitutional institutions of the Nigerian state.

Rather, it illustrates how traditional institutions can remain relevant within a modern democracy.

 Tradition in an Age of Insecurity

This balancing act has also been evident in the Oba's response to insecurity.

Nigeria's security challenges have increasingly affected communities across the country, and Edo State has not been immune to kidnapping and violent crime.

In July 2026, the Oba directed traditional worshippers to conduct ancestral rites against criminality, while the Palace emphasised that such spiritual efforts were intended to complement—not replace—the responsibilities of government and security agencies.

That distinction matters.

The modern traditional ruler occupies an unusual space.

The Oba is a custodian of ancient traditions, but he also operates within a constitutional republic governed by modern institutions.

The strength of the institution lies partly in its ability to respect both realities.

 Beyond the Palace

There is another measure of a reign: what it does for the younger generation.

The Oba Ewuare II Foundation, established in 2017, has been associated with scholarships, vocational empowerment and anti-trafficking initiatives.

That focus is particularly significant in Edo, where human trafficking and irregular migration have caused profound social consequences.

A palace cannot solve such problems by decree.

But it can use its influence to draw attention to them, encourage education and skills acquisition, and remind young people that their future need not be defined by desperation.

This is where tradition becomes relevant in a very practical sense.

An institution that claims to represent a people must ultimately concern itself with their welfare.

A Palace Without Walls

Perhaps the clearest description of the past decade is that the Benin Palace has become a palace without walls.

Its influence has extended beyond ceremonies and traditional authority into diplomacy, cultural advocacy, scholarship, mediation and social intervention.

The Oba has received leaders at home while engaging traditional institutions and communities abroad.

He has spoken about Benin's past while addressing Nigeria's present.

And he has used the international language of diplomacy without abandoning the cultural language of the kingdom.

That bridge-building may prove to be one of the defining characteristics of the Ewuare II era.

Benin remains unmistakably Benin, but it is also part of Nigeria and part of a world in which cultural heritage, diplomacy and identity increasingly intersect.

 Ten Years, But Only a Chapter

As Benin City prepares for the tenth anniversary celebrations from October 3 to 25, 2026, the programme reflects the breadth of the reign: cultural festivals, a durbar, sporting events, an art exhibition and trade fair, lectures, an economic summit, a security summit, children's activities, football and golf, an exhibition of returned artefacts, a grand reception and thanksgiving.

The programme is therefore about more than marking ten years on the throne.

It is an opportunity to ask what those ten years have represented.

The answer is not found in one ceremony or one diplomatic achievement.

It is found in the cumulative effort to restore confidence in Benin's history, strengthen its institutions, recover its cultural property, engage the wider world and keep the traditional institution relevant to contemporary society.

There is, of course, much more to be done.

The return of artefacts is an ongoing process. Questions about their long-term preservation, interpretation and public access remain important. Historical education must continue. Cultural institutions require investment. And the social and economic challenges confronting Edo's young people cannot be solved by symbolism alone.

But a decade provides an opportunity to recognise what has changed.

The image of Oba Ewuare II dancing before returned Benin treasures is therefore more than a memorable royal moment.

It is an image of a people seeing part of itself come home.

The bronze heads, plaques, ivory works and other royal treasures tell one part of the story. The revival of institutions, historical scholarship, community interventions, youth initiatives and international engagements tell another.

Together, they point to a monarchy attempting to carry an ancient institution into a rapidly changing Nigeria.

That may ultimately be the central question of the Ewuare II reign: not whether tradition can survive modernity, but whether tradition can find a meaningful place within it.

For Benin, the answer will not be determined by the number of artefacts that return, the number of dignitaries who visit the palace or the grandeur of anniversary celebrations.

It will be determined by whether a new generation understands that the history being reclaimed belongs to them too.

Ten years into the reign of Oba Ewuare II, Benin is not simply looking backward.

It is looking backward in order to move forward.

And perhaps that is the deeper meaning of the Bronzes coming home.

After more than a century of absence, Benin is not merely recovering its treasures.

It is reawakening its memory.

Oba ghato kpere. Ise.