Colourful posters of some artifacts expected to be received by the Oba of Benin have adorned some major streets of Benin City ahead of the ceremony on Monday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the posters which also carried the photograph of Oba Ewaure II, were seen displayed in strategy streets, including Airport Road.
The city has been in a festive mood since President Mohammadu Buhari ordered the return of the artifacts to the place they were looted during the Benin invasion in 1897.
It would be recalled that some of the Benin artworks were recently repatriated from Jesus College, Cambridge, and University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and handed over to the Federal Government.
The presidential directive to return the antiquities to the ancient palace of the Oba of Benin was made known by the secretary of Benin Traditional Council (BTC), Frank Irabor, in a press statement.
According to the statement, the handing over of the returned artifacts would take place at the Oba’s palace on 13th December 2021.
The statement explained that the event would also be used to mark the 5th-anniversary celebration of Oba Ewaure II on his ascension to the throne.
The anniversary was postponed in honour of late Captain Idahosa Okunbo, who died on August 8. (NAN)
