Overview
- Roughly 20 men, some wielding wooden bats, rushed the museum courtyard during a donors’ preview, forcing guests including ambassadors to shelter inside before being escorted away.
- Nigeria’s culture minister condemned the incident and said the ministry is working with Edo State authorities, security agencies and stakeholders to establish what happened and decide next steps.
- MOWAA asked visitors to suspend travel plans and said preview and opening events are on hold, with the official opening postponed indefinitely.
- The privately run, $25 million project—designed by David Adjaye and backed by governments and institutions including Germany, France, Denmark, the British Museum, the Getty Foundation and the Ford Foundation—has been years in the making.
- Longstanding disputes over ownership of returned Benin Bronzes frame the tensions, with a 2023 directive recognizing the Oba of Benin as custodian; MOWAA has abandoned earlier plans to display the bronzes, which the Oba plans to show in a separate museum.