France returns Nigeria’s stolen artefacts – The Guardian
November 16, 2009 by Bunmi Awolusi
Two stone monoliths stolen from Nigeria by Camerounian poacher and taken to France were handed over to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, in Abuja at the weekend.
Nigeria’s envoy to France, Ambassador Gordon Bristol, who presented the items returned by the government of France, said experts traced the origins of the monoliths to the different sub-groups of the Bakar people of Cross River State – the Nnam, Nselle and Ekujak. The monoliths are actually known as Akwanshi, representing the ancestors of the Akwanshi ethnic group, duly recognised by the Nigerian government as national monuments under Decree 77 of 1979 (now an act of the National Assembly)
According to Bristol, the mission in France took possession of the monoliths from the Mid-Pyranees regional headquarters of the French Customs in Toulouse on June 22, this year, after the necessary documentation. Bristol also happens to be a former Nigerian envoy to Cameroun.
