with Nigeria among three different parties: the descendant of the last oba, the current governor, Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, and the federal government and state of Nigeria. The current oba believes that the royal family has legal claims to the artwork. Critics say that giving the artwork to a single family might not fare well since the royal family no longer has power. Meanwhile, the governor has plans for a museum. Critics argue that once the current governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki leaves office in 2024 the museum plans will be abandoned. The state of Nigeria believes that it has the rightful claim to the artwork, but many fear that corruption and mismanagement in Nigerian governments, citing, for instance, the 1973 incident when the head of state at the time, General Yakubu Gowon, walked into the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos and took one of the Benin heads and gifted it to Queen Elizabeth; that piece remains today in the Royal Collection of Britain. References External links Penn Museum – Benin Collection Art and oracle: African art and rituals of divination, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Benin art Royal Art of Benin: The Perls Collection, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF) Antiquities from the city of Benin and from other parts of West Africa in the British Museum, a catalog from The British Museum (fully available online as PDF) Art of Oceania, Africa, and the Americas from the Museum of Primitive Art: an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF) Benin Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture, from the American Folklife Center "This Art was Looted 123 Years Ago. Will It Ever Be Returned?" January 2020 article about the Benin Bronzes from the New York Times Work by Beninese artists at the University of Michigan Museum of Art Nigerian art Edo people Benin Court Art