Management of the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) has cancelled any further preview event scheduled for Monday and opening on Tuesday.
This was after suspected thugs invaded its premises on Sunday and chased away foreign journalists, diplomats and tourists that attended the museum’s preview event.
Protesters targeted the new multi-million dollar museum in Nigeria and forced organisers to halt a preview event ahead of Tuesday’s grand opening.
Videos showed a group insulting foreign guests and ordering them to leave after entering the grounds of the Museum of West African Art (Mowaa) in Benin City on Sunday.
The museum in Edo state was in part conceived as a home for the Benin Bronzes – artefacts looted from there by British soldiers in the 19th Century. The campus includes state-of-the art preservation and restoration facilities.
However, a bitter dispute over the control of the prized artworks has meant they are not at the museum, something that appeared to have angered the protesters.
The Sunday event was organised as an exclusive viewing for select investors, artists, and international dignitaries but heavy security presence could not prevent the thugs from gaining access into the premises and vandalising the place.
The thugs chanted war songs, saying the Musuem was supposed to be named the Benin Royal Museum.
Spokesman for the protesters, Osaro Iyamu Culture, said MOWAA used clandestine means to open the museum to the public.
Local vendors, who were at the premises to sell palm wine, artistic pottery, and local delicacies, were chased away by the thugs who tagged themselves Indigenous Benin Youths.
The foreign journalists and diplomats, including the European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, the German Ambassador, and the Danish Ambassador, were initially trapped inside the museum but were later taken out under heavy security presence.
In a statement on its official X handle, MOWAA urged those planning to travel to Benin for the MOWAA preview week to suspend their travel plans unless they have other essential reasons to be in the city.
It advises those currently in Benin City against visiting the MOWAA campus until the situation has been resolved.
