OSIBAnews

01/12/2025

Now, The Dogs Are Back To Their Vomits!

The above caption aptly describes President Tinubu's nomination of Reno, Bwala and FFK for Ambassadorial positions. And I totally agree with Dr. Akpoti when he says:

"President Ahmed Bola Tinubu is a strategic political dog trainer. 🐕‍🦺 I once spoke about intellectual cholera — when a person vomits and passes excrement uncontrollably. Some politicians talk anyhow without control.

Tinubu is an expert in making people eat their vomit and their excrement like dogs. What he does is simple: he adds garnished pieces of meat to your vomit and to your excrement, and you will go back and eat them yourself. 🤢🍖

Daniel Bwala is one of them. He abused hell out of Tinubu. But Tinubu added pieces of meat to his vomit and his excrement, and the man swallowed everything. Tinubu then put a collar and a leash on his neck.

Reno Omokri is another one. He talked all kinds of things, went to Chicago University, and swore he would never work for Tinubu. But Tinubu added garnished meat into his vomit and his excrement, and while he was eating them, Tinubu put a leash on him too. Today, he is firmly in the grip of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

FFK is another one.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu… I dey fear you now. You be Baba!"

-Highlights from "Tinubu and His ‘Repentant’ Critics: Reno, Bwala & FFK"

01/12/2025

Nollywood at an Inflection Point: Why the Retreat of Global Streamers Is a Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity for Nigerian Investors.

-By Audu Maikori
(Chocolate City)

For nearly a decade, global streaming platforms reshaped Nollywood—expanding budgets, global visibility, and professional ambition. But beneath the surface, they also created dependency. Ownership of intellectual property shifted toward platform-centered structures, business models pivoted toward fixed buy-outs rather than long-term value, and Nigerian producers increasingly operated within frameworks that limited wealth accumulation from IP.

That era is now ending. And the next phase will determine who truly owns Africa’s largest film industry.

Netflix’s late-2024 pivot away from commissioning Nigerian originals, following Amazon Prime Video’s earlier withdrawal from African original content, signals not market collapse but recalibration. What some see as contraction is actually a transfer of power. Nollywood is moving from a streamer-funded supply pipeline to an open investment landscape where local capital can finally accumulate IP, monetize audiences sustainably, and build generational value.

The Scale of the Opportunity

Nigeria’s cinema box office reached ₦11.5 billion in 2024—up 60% from ₦7.2 billion in 2023—its strongest growth since the pandemic. Admissions rose to 2.66 million, while titles such as Everybody Loves Jenifa (₦1.88 billion) and A Tribe Called Judah (₦1.4 billion) proved that high-quality local productions can dominate the domestic market. FilmOne alone targets ₦15 billion in box office revenue by 2025.

Yet theatrical earnings are only a fraction of Nollywood’s economic potential. Nigeria produces over 2,500 films annually, most bypassing cinemas entirely and remaining under-monetized across television, streaming, YouTube, licensing, and diaspora syndication. The creative economy already employs more than 4 million Nigerians and is projected to generate $13.6 billion by 2028. The gap between production volume and revenue capture is where investor value now sits.
From Dependency to Ownership

The streamer era delivered visibility and liquidity—but at a cost. Commissioning structures were built primarily around work-for-hire arrangements:

Commissioning models often centralized IP ownership at the platform level, limiting long-term asset accumulation for local producers.

Despite meaningful content investments, streaming platforms served Nigerian audiences only in the low hundreds of thousands — numbers that could never support sustained multi-million-dollar production pipelines. Their strategic pullback simply dismantles a model that was economically brittle from inception.

What replaces it is more powerful: Nigerian studio ownership.

Local investors now have the window to back businesses—not isolated film projects—that retain IP and monetize across multiple windows: cinemas, pay-TV and free-to-air broadcast, regional and global streaming licensing, ad-supported platforms, airlines, hospitality channels, and diaspora syndication. These diversified revenue stacks reduce reliance on any single buyer and reward long-term asset building over transactional cash flow.

Local Models Fit Nigerian Economics

This reset favors distribution strategies aligned with actual market mechanics. Cinema becomes the initial validation engine—not the sole income stream. Content flows deliberately across platforms. Licensing is structured regionally to aggregate value rather than surrender rights through global buy-outs.

Advertising alliances, brand integrations, and sponsored storytelling — still under-deployed in Nollywood — become scalable financing tools within Nigeria’s consumer economy. Risk is diversified, revenue is layered, and ownership is preserved.
The Real Bottleneck: Skills and Quality

Ownership alone is not enough. Nollywood’s most persistent constraint remains the shortage of skilled labour and technical infrastructure. Across cinematography, editing, sound design, production management, post-production, line producing, and VFX, formal training pipelines are thin. Studio capacity remains constrained. Standardized certifications and apprenticeships remain limited.

South Africa illustrates the contrast: not creative dominance but systems discipline. Dense technical labor pools and reliable infrastructure drive consistency and international competitiveness. Until Nigeria scales its skilled workforce and studio capability, ownership alone cannot deliver sustainable competitiveness.

Building the Industry Backbone

At Chocolate City, we are piloting one response through our partnership with the Ministry of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy — focused not on funding content, but on building ecosystem capacity.

Our collaboration centers on three pillars:
• Workforce development: professional crew training, mentorship, and production-aligned apprenticeships.
• Infrastructure expansion: upgraded studios, sound stages, post-production facilities, and regional production hubs.
• Sustainable scale: increasing output while maintaining global quality standards.

This approach converts film investment from short-term project finance into long-term industrial strategy — building the foundation private capital needs to scale confidently.

Why This Is the Investor Window

The pattern is familiar: foreign capital proves demand, exits as margins compress, and domestic capital consolidates ownership. African telecoms and fintech followed this trajectory. Film now stands at the same inflection point.

For Nigerian investors, clear pathways emerge:
• Slate financing models that diversify production risk while retaining IP upside.
• Studio and post-production infrastructure investments that create defensible competitive moats.
• Workforce pipeline platforms that generate service revenues alongside equity participation.

Most importantly, the value remains onshore — building Nigerian balance sheets instead of offshore streaming portfolios.

A Shift in Power

The withdrawal of global streamers does not weaken Nollywood — it repositions it.

For the first time in a decade, the industry can move from dependency to ownership, from outsourced decision-making to indigenous strategy, from transactional cash flow to enduring asset value.

The global platforms already answered whether Nollywood is investable — by showing up in the first place. The question now is whether Nigerians will step forward to own the value they helped create.

This is not retreat.
It is recalibration.
And for those prepared to act, it is the moment to finally own Nollywood’s stories — and its economy.

01/12/2025

Happy New Month 🎉

Watch, follow, and discover more trending content.

01/12/2025

Proud Mom Celebrates as Messi Adds “47th Career Trophy"

Reports say that Lionel Messi’s mother took to social media to celebrate Messi, describing him as a champion “with his 47th career trophy… and counting.” 😘🏆

"In her heartfelt message, she praised the Argentine superstar’s consistency, dedication, and the pride he continues to bring to their family and millions of fans worldwide.

The emotional congratulatory post quickly gained attention online, with fans joining in to salute Messi’s legendary achievements and his mother’s unwavering support.

The football icon, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, continues to add milestones to an already historic career—much to the pride of his family and supporters."

01/12/2025

“People Don’t Even Realize How Deep Phyno’s Talent Runs...”

“Before the fame, before Lagos, before the hit records—Phyno was already a beast in the studio.”

Mr. Raw said that on his second album, Phyno handled more than half of the production, crafting beats with the same precision he now brings to his rap.

“Most people only know the superstar, not the producer who used to stay up all night building sounds from scratch,” he added.

Mr Raw also shared a moment he still remembers clearly from their time in Enugu:

“One day, Phyno told me, ‘Oga Raw, this city don do. I’m heading to Lagos. I’m not going with this my old car—I’ll get there, make money, and buy a better one.’”

He laughed as he recalled it, not because it was funny, but because that boldness was a sign of what was coming.

“Looking at him now, I’m just proud,” Mr Raw concluded.
“Everything he said back then, he actually achieved. His growth doesn’t surprise me one bit—he believed in himself long before anyone else did.” 🗣️—Mr Raw!!
Copied.

30/11/2025

ABOUT TINUBU'S AMBASSADORIAL APPOINTMENT:

"With his recently announced ambassadorial appointments, Tinubu again proves not only to be tone deaf, but deaf, dumb and blind. The world is watching. Appointing Omokri and FFK reveals that he values money-grubbing, boot-licking, genocide-denying sycophants who flip flop on issues of substance on command over those who show even a shred of competence or integrity.

He’s further confirming himself to be a corrupt dictator who doesn’t care one bit about the unity of Nigeria or her everyday citizens.

Even worse, what does this shameful tit-for-tat rewarding of slimy actors tell Nigerian children? It tells them that to advance in Nigeria today, the first step is to sell your soul and abandon any hint of honor. This is truly shameful.

If anyone doubted that Nigeria is a disgraced, corrupt nation, today’s appointments prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt."
-Mike Arnold

29/11/2025

Bandits Parade!

This clip is a reflection of the state of the nation. Bandits are having fun in a country that claims sovereignty, a country that boasts of an army! Someone aptly captioned the clip thus:

"Bandits warming up for another fresh attack!.... Only God knows where this time around!🤔😢"

28/11/2025

"Show me the law!"

That was Nnamdi Kanu's request to the judge that passed the judgement. As it seems, the world also wants to see the law...the song says it all.

But, wasn't Nnamdi Kanu judged based on the law of the land? Just wondering.

27/11/2025

"We know who the bandits are..." Tinubu government is confessing.

27/11/2025

Hired protesters in US confessed being paid to engage in protest to debunk christian genocide in Nigeria. Placards read: "Nigerian christians not target of genocide", "Stronger Together" etc.

When asked what part of Nigeria they were from, the protesters admitted they were non Nigerian .

A witness caption reads:

"THE LEOPARD CANNOT CHANGE ITS SPORTS. OUR CORRUPT NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT HAS EXPORTED OUR CULTURE OF CORRUPTION INTO THE U.S, BY PAYING FAKE PROTESTERS TO CARRY PLACARDS IN DEFENSE OF THE GOVERNMENT TO DEBUNK THE MASSACRE OF CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA. WHAT A SHAME". 🙄.

26/11/2025

Residents of Anambra State Maintain Monday Sit-at-Home Despite Kanu’s Imprisonment

Reports show that residents in Onitsha, Nnewi, and other parts of Anambra State continued to observe the weekly Monday sit-at-home, showing solidarity with Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, even after his conviction and imprisonment.

Businesses, schools, banks, hospitals, and government offices remained shut, while streets were largely empty, reflecting widespread public support for Kanu.Some locals told Vanguard that the sit-at-home is a voluntary protest and not enforced by IPOB. They clarified that previous claims of IPOB-imposed lockdowns were misleading, noting that any criminal activity during past protests was opportunistic and not organized by the group.

Obed Nwachukwu stated, “Those expecting markets and businesses to reopen because of Kanu’s imprisonment will have to wait. We are standing in solidarity with him until he regains freedom.”

Chief Okwudili Okoye added, “The Federal Government’s assertions and the Abuja Federal High Court’s ruling lack credibility. The Monday sit-at-home will continue voluntarily to demand justice and fairness for Ndigbo. Normal activities will resume only when Nnamdi Kanu is free.”

Residents stressed that the protest extends beyond IPOB, serving as a wider demonstration of solidarity with Kanu and a stand against what they perceive as unfair treatment of the Igbo people.

From Instablog9ja

25/11/2025

MOWAA: THE MUSEUM THAT SPLIT A KINGDOM

Reconstructing the Benin Royal Museum, EMOWAA, and MOWAA Controversy Through Verified Documents, Diplomatic Records, and Official Statements

By Melanated Ovienzowoba

Document Access and Methodology

This investigation draws on:
- official Benin Dialogue Group (BDG) statements from 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023
- incorporation filings related to the Legacy Restoration Trust, EMOWAA, and MOWAA
- public statements from the Oba of Benin and Governor Godwin Obaseki
- statements from donor countries (Germany, Sweden, UK)
- Bundestag records on German restitution policy
publicly available recordings and transcripts
- Independent reporting, including Elisabeth Andersson's article on Western reactions to the Buhari Gazette
- internal documents provided to the reporter by individuals directly involved in the process

Some of these internal materials were shared strictly for investigative review and cannot be published, but their authenticity has been verified. These documents provide essential context to the shifts in policy, governance and stakeholder positions examined in this report.

Reconstructing the MOWAA Story: A Factual Timeline and Analysis

For years, the story of the Benin Royal Museum (BRM), EMOWAA, and the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) has circulated in fragments: accusations on social media, government press releases, unofficial commentary, and a growing number of interpretations shaped by political allegiance.

What has been missing is a forensic reconstruction grounded in verifiable documents, meeting statements, public filings, international restitution policy, and statements from key actors.

As an independent journalist, I am seeking a clear, evidence-based account of MOWAA's (formerly EMOWAA) origins, evolution, and controversies, as well as its ties to the Legacy Restoration Trust (LRT).

Based solely on the provided documents, I have compiled a neutral reconstruction. This investigation brings together BDG communiqués (2018–2023), EMOWAA/MOWAA incorporation documents, Edo State statements, NCMM positions, Bundestag policy records, press statements, and publicly available remarks by the Oba of Benin and Governor Godwin Obaseki.

The goal is not to settle political disputes, but to determine, using evidence, what actually happened to the BRM, why EMOWAA/MOWAA emerged, and what these shifts mean for the future custodianship of repatriated Benin artefacts.

The investigation remains ongoing, with additional documents still pending.

I. 2018-2019: THE ORIGINAL VISION: A ROYAL MUSEUM BASED ON LOAN AGREEMENTS
The earliest document in this archive is the Statement from the Benin Dialogue Group (BDG), Leiden, October 2018.

The language is unequivocal:
"A central objective for the Benin Dialogue Group is to work together to establish a museum in Benin City with a rotation of Benin works of art from a consortium of European museums in collaboration with the Edo State Government and the Royal Court of Benin, with the support of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria."
– Statement from the Benin Dialogue Group 2018

Several critical facts emerge from this 2018 statement:
- The Museum identified was the Benin Royal Museum (BRM)
- The restitution framework was based on rotating loans
- Custodial ownership was not on the table
- The Palace, Edo State, and NCMM were equal partners
- The representative of the Oba was HRH Prince Gregory Akenzua

No mention is made of EMOWAA, MOWAA, or the Legacy Restoration Trust (LRT).
The BRM was the sole focus.

The 2019 BDG Meeting in Benin City, confirmed in the "Press Statement Benin Dialogue Group 2019," repeats and expands the same structure:
"This constituted a significant advance on the plans made for the Royal Museum during the Benin Dialogue Group in Leiden in 2018."

"At the invitation of His Excellency the Governor, Sir David Adjaye led a discussion concerning the architectural vision for the museum in Benin City."

"The Benin Dialogue Group welcomed the initiative of the Edo State Government to create a museum trust that would be responsible for the planned Museum, its operation and be a custodian for the collection. "
[Press Statement of the meeting of the Benin Dialogue Group
in Benin City, Nigeria, 5-7 July 2019.]

This last sentence would later become a turning point. The BDG "welcomed" the idea of a trust to support BRM. There is no indication in 2019 that the trust would replace the BRM or become an independent project.

At this stage, BRM remained the central and agreed project.

II. 2020: THE GLOBAL SHOCK: LOANS REPLACED BY PERMANENT RESTITUTION
In 2020, European restitution policy underwent a historic shift.
Germany, in particular, moved from supporting long-term loans to endorsing permanent returns of colonial-era objects. This change was confirmed in Bundestag debates and in Germany's new restitution framework.

This policy change fundamentally altered the BRM project because:

- The BRM was designed for loaned artefacts, not repatriated ownership.
- Under Nigerian law (NCMM Act), federally repatriated artefacts cannot be transferred to a sub-national or traditional institution without federal oversight.
- European museums required a governance structure compatible with international risk, insurance, and conservation standards.

In simpler terms: A Palace-controlled museum could not legally or operationally receive repatriated artefacts under the new restitution model.

The documents do not show any deliberate undermining of the Palace at this stage. What they show is a collision between BRM's original structure and a new global legal reality. This is where the governance vacuum emerged.

III. 2021: THE LEGACY RESTORATION TRUST (LRT) EMERGES; BRM DISAPPEARS FROM BDG LANGUAGE
The BDG 2021 Meeting Statement, held in London, marks a dramatic shift.

The BRM is never mentioned by name.
Instead, the BDG refers to: "The group discussed initiatives working towards the development of the museum landscape in Benin City."
[ Press Statement of the meeting of the Benin Dialogue Group,
London, on 25 October 2021.]

The steering committee for restitution now includes:
- Edo State Government
- NCMM
- The Royal Court of Benin
- Legacy Restoration Trust (LRT), represented by its Executive Director, Phillip Ihenacho
- Multiple European museums and governments

The inclusion of the LRT is significant. The Palace's representative for this meeting is HRH Prince Aghatise Erediauwa, not HRH Prince Gregory Akenzua.

Between 2019 and 2021:
- BRM vanished from diplomatic language
- The LRT became a recognised negotiating entity
- The BDG reframed its work around a plural museum landscape

This is not a minor linguistic adjustment. It represents a change in international recognition.

The BDG does not declare BRM "dead," but it no longer treats BRM as the sole or primary project. The shift coincides exactly with Nigeria's acceptance of permanent restitution and Europe's demand for legally robust governance structures.

European partners, especially German stakeholders, increasingly framed the project not as a single royal museum but as a broader “museum ecosystem” in Benin City. German partners in particular emphasised that any restitution process had to be embedded within a public, multi-stakeholder institution capable of delivering conservation, research and risk standards. This shift coincided with their requirement for research centres, conservation labs, archaeology hubs, and training facilities; components that went far beyond the original BRM blueprint.

IV. 2023: THE BUHARI GAZETTE – THE LEGAL EARTHQUAKE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
On 23 March 2023, President Muhammadu Buhari signed a legal instrument declaring: All restituted Benin artefacts are the legal property of the Oba of Benin.

This single act produced a geopolitical shockwave across Europe.

Supporting international reaction
As reported in Elisabeth Andersson’s article in Svenska Dagbladet (2025), Swedish cultural institutions and international observers expressed clear anxiety about what the Gazette implied. The Western media framed the question bluntly: Would returned Benin artefacts go to a Nigerian public museum or “to a king”?

This mirrors the same apprehension expressed in German and Dutch policy debates. European actors were concerned that restitution to the Oba, rather than to a Nigerian state museum, complicated transparency, governance, and public access.

This Western discomfort became a decisive pressure point that strengthened donor preference for the LRT/EMOWAA/MOWAA structure.

Elisabeth Andersson's reporting confirms:
- European institutions reacted with indignation
- They feared artefacts were being handed to a traditional monarchy rather than a public museum
- They questioned conservation standards, access, and governance
- They pushed strongly for a public, internationally governed Museum instead

This reaction is also supported by Bundestag discussions in 2021–2022, which repeatedly emphasised that restituted cultural property must remain in publicly regulated institutions. German parliamentary documents argued that stewardship must ensure universal access, preservation standards, and legal continuity. A transfer of ownership to a traditional hereditary institution, while culturally significant, fell outside the governance model Germany considers internationally compliant.

This Gazette became the primary legal justification for donors pivoting away from BRM and toward LRT/EMOWAA/MOWAA.

The Gazette also explained:
- Why European donors preferred a trust model
- Why they insisted on NCMM oversight
- Why the Palace's authority became a diplomatic challenge
- Why governance disputes intensified after 2023

Most importantly, the Buhari Gazette legally re-centralised the Oba, just as donors were moving toward a public trust governance model.

This created the perfect conditions for the Palace and Edo State to diverge. Under the NCMM Act and Nigeria’s constitutional framework, the federal government remains the statutory custodian of antiquities; this legal structure made it difficult for European donors to recognise a Palace-only pathway for repatriation.

The Gazette not only reasserted traditional custodianship but also disrupted years of Western planning frameworks built on loan models, creating a diplomatic fracture that neither side fully anticipated.

V. 2020 - 2023: THE EMOWAA–MOWAA TRANSFORMATION: HOW THE STRUCTURE EVOLVED
The Legacy Restoration Trust itself did not originate from a Palace or federal initiative; it emerged from discussions between Edo State–aligned actors and international partners seeking a governance structure compatible with restitution standards.

Based on corporate filings and internal documents:
- The Legacy Restoration Trust (LRT) was incorporated on 13 January 2020 as a vehicle for heritage development.
- On 30 March 2022, the trust was renamed EMOWAA TRUST
- By 3 October 2023, the name had shifted again to MUSEUM OF WEST AFRICAN ARTS (MOWAA)

Key facts from documents shared:
The board appointment file shows that the Crown Prince Ezelekhae was offered a board seat.

This confirms two things:
1. The Palace was not excluded
2. The Palace was not in control
– One board seat does not provide veto power
– It does not allow supervisory authority over finances or governance
– It does not determine strategic direction

The MOWAA documentation also:
- Crown Prince Ezelekhae's resignation letter (a confirmation of internal disagreement)
- lists major donors including the German Government, Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Leventis, etc.
- list Edo State as a founding financial partner
- outlines a professional, international governance structure and donor-aligned
- emphasises archaeology, urban regeneration, and contemporary art
- the Palace held one board seat, not decisive control

This governance model fits international restitution requirements and explains donor alignment. But it clashed with the Palace's historical role as sole custodian.

VI. 2023 BDG HAMBURG MEETING: THE "DOUBLE MUSEUM REALITY"

The 2023 8th BDG Meeting (Hamburg) clearly acknowledges:
- EMOWAA/MOWAA as an active partner
- Reintroduces the Benin Royal Museum (BRM) only as part of "the museum landscape"
- Welcomes funding for NCMM's storage facility for returned artefacts
- Recognises multiple parallel projects

This confirms that:
- BRM is no longer the sole or primary museum project
- EMOWAA/MOWAA has been fully integrated into the BDG framework
- The BDG does not adjudicate disputes between Edo State and the Palace

This is the first fully explicit recognition that we now have two museum pathways, not one.

VII. PUBLIC CLAIMS VS. WHAT THE DOCUMENTS SHOW

THE PALACE
The Palace has repeatedly stated, in public pronouncements, that the LRT and EMOWAA structures were created without its consent and that the Crown Prince’s involvement was misrepresented as approval rather than consultation.

The Oba of Benin maintains that:
- The original agreement was for BRM
- All returning artefacts are the cultural property of the Palace
- Certain entities have attempted to "divert" the project
- The Crown Prince was used to give false appearance of endorsement

This position is consistent with the BRM structure documented in 2018–2019.

However, based on all currently available documents, no architectural designs, budgets, governance proposals, or public planning documents for the Benin Royal Museum, beyond the BDG communiqués, have surfaced. Their absence does not mean they do not exist, but it leaves a documentary gap that complicates full reconstruction of the Palace-led BRM pathway.

THE EDO STATE GOVERNMENT
Governor Obaseki's position is that:
- The trust structure (LRT/EMOWAA/MOWAA) is modern, transparent, and donor-friendly
- Edo State is responsible for integrating heritage into economic and urban development
- The state salvaged a project that was structurally collapsing under new restitution rules

Obaseki’s speech reinforces:
- Donor requirements
- Federal legal constraints
- Transparency demands
- Palace withdrawal after donor funding commitments

The official MOWAA statement from 21 November 2025 emphasises:
- rising construction costs
- Naira devaluation
- donor involvement
- transparency

THE NCMM
Although the documents do not include an NCMM statement, BDG records consistently position NCMM as:
- the legal custodian of federal heritage
- the recipient of repatriated artefacts
- the operator of the new storage facility

DONOR COUNTRIES (GERMANY, NETHERLANDS, ETC.)
The BDG documents and parliamentary discussions reveal a clear but often overlooked fact: European institutions will not release repatriated artefacts to a solely Palace-operated museum.

Their requirements include:
- non-opaque private-custody pathways
- clear governance
- financial audits
- insurance
- conservation standards
- federal oversight
- administrative continuity

This international requirement is a major structural factor in the shift from BRM to EMOWAA/MOWAA. It aligns with the Buhari Gazette shock.

VIII. ANALYSIS: WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED
Based strictly on the documents, the timeline, and public statements:

1. BRM was conceived for loaned artefacts, not repatriated objects.
When the restitution policy changed, the BRM framework could no longer function as designed.

2. A governance vacuum emerged between 2020 and 2021.
European restitution policy (2020) fundamentally undermined BRM’s loan-based structure.

3. Edo State moved fastest with a donor-aligned solution (LRT to EMOWAA to MOWAA).
Legal requirements, donor expectations, and NCMM law demanded a public-institutional model. Edo State created LRT/EMOWAA/MOWAA to fill the governance vacuum. This structure matched donor expectations and federal legal requirements.

4. European partners did not abandon the Palace; they adapted to legal reality.
Donors shifted toward EMOWAA/MOWAA because it aligned with legal and institutional standards. They included the Palace in BDG and on the LRT board, but retained a multi-stakeholder model.

5. The Buhari Gazette (2023) reignited tensions by reaffirming the Oba’s custodianship.

6. BRM became one of several parallel projects instead of the primary one.
This shift was diplomatic and gradual, but visible in every BDG statement after 2020.

7. No available document proves intentional deception by the Edo State Government.
Every BDG communiqué shows EMOWAA/MOWAA operating in the open.

8. The evidence points instead to structural incompatibility, not sabotage.

9. The Palace feels sidelined not because it was removed, but because its central role under the original BRM model was diluted.

This conflict was inevitable once restitution replaced the loan model.

IX. POLITICAL MISINFORMATION AND THE NEW BATTLEFIELD

As the museum question intensified, a new front opened: Nigerian electoral politics, particularly the rhetoric coming from certain Edo State officials.

One example stands out.
Once on national television and on another media platform, the Edo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy claimed that:
1. Sweden had returned Benin artefacts, and
2. Sweden was a sponsor of MOWAA.

These statements were made publicly by the current Edo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Kassim Afegbua.

Both claims are contradicted by every available public record.
- Sweden has not repatriated any Benin artefacts
- Sweden’s National Museums of World Culture continue to hold Benin works
- Sweden is not listed among MOWAA donors
- MOWAA’s own press statement names only Germany, the Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Leventis and others as supporters

This was further confirmed by direct communication with the British Council, which stated unequivocally that it had no link, support role, or partnership with MOWAA or the earlier Benin Royal Museum initiative.

These statements by the Edo state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Kassim Afegbua, were not only incorrect; they intensified distrust among stakeholders and created the impression that international actors favoured one side over the other.

In a highly polarised environment, misinformation from official channels risks escalating a technical governance conflict into a political and ethnic one.

X. WHAT IS STILL UNKNOWN

The investigation remains incomplete. Key missing materials include:

- BDG internal minutes
- NCMM–Edo State correspondence
- LRT/EMOWAA internal emails during transition
- Donor–state memoranda of understanding
- BRM committee records
- Royal Museum planning documents
- Final federal restitution directives
Until these are released, the full story cannot be declared closed.

CONCLUSION
Based on the available documents, public records, meeting statements, incorporation filings, and video statements, a clear pattern emerges:
- BRM was real, valid, and genuinely agreed to between 2018 and 2019.
- A global policy shift (loans to restitution) structurally undermined the BRM model.
- Edo State filled the resulting vacuum with the LRT/EMOWAA/MOWAA structure.
- European museums accepted EMOWAA/MOWAA because it aligned with governance standards they could legally work with.
- The Palace was included symbolically but not given decisive control.
- The current conflict is not merely political; it is architectural, legal, and structural.

There is still no conclusive evidence from the documents available that Obaseki deceived the BDG or "hijacked" a completed project.

What the evidence suggests is a redirection of an evolving, structurally unstable project into a form compatible with changing international norms.

The conflict was not born of greed alone, nor deception alone, nor politics alone.
It was born of a system where tradition, law, heritage, diplomacy, and restitution policy collided at the same time.

For now, the documentary and paper trail support a nuanced conclusion: The BRM did not collapse due to a single act of sabotage, but due to a confluence of international legal shifts, governance constraints, federal law, donor expectations, and political manoeuvring.
Edo State adapted quickly; the Palace held its line; the result is the museum landscape we see today.

More documents are being sourced, and this investigation will continue to be updated as new evidence becomes available.
#1897