A Briton, Dr. Mark Walker, has returned to the Oba of Benin, two bronze works carted away by his great grandfather 117 years ago during the invasion of Benin by British soldiers.

The two bronze artefacts, a  long-beaked bird and a bell, which were removed by his great  grandfather, Captain Philip Walker, in 1897, were received by the Oba at a reception organized in honour of the Briton in Benin.

The monarch, Oba Erediauwa, who would mark his birthday in few days time, described the return of the antiquities as the best birthday gifts he had ever  received.

The Oba, however, urged the other descendants of soldiers who fought in Benin and still kept the objects in their homes to emulate Dr. Adrian Walker’s friendly gesture and return the objects in their possession.

Dr. Walker, who expressed delight  that the cultural antiquities were returned to their place of origin, noted that he was thankful to Oba and people of Benin for not rebuking him on account of his grandfather’s
misdeed.

He said that he had persuaded his grandmother to take custody of the art works so that he could trace their root and return them to the rightful owners.

“I was very pleased to have them in my possession because they reminded me of my parents.

“But when I realized that my children were not interested in the bronze works, I knew I had to protect their future,” Walker noted.

“He said that it was through the Internet, after typing in ‘Benin bronze’, that he discovered the website of the Richard Lander Society, operated by Steve Sunstone, which linked him with the original owner of the antiquities.

“On that website is a brief history of the Benin and a passionate plea for the return of the bronzes.

” So, I contacted Mr. Sunstone and he very kindly put into effect a lot of work by him and his colleagues who arranged for visits to Nigerian High Commission in London and made contact with the royal household here,” he said.
The governor also described Dr. Walker a man with a “heart of gold” who believed that a wrong perpetrated could not be corrected by time but by doing what he had done.