Histo-Cultural Discourse on the Igue Festival, Pre/Post Benin Invasion and the Reparation Debate

In the growth and development of ancient Benin kingdom into a rich and powerful community that flourished in festival celebrations, and artistic splendor, the kings and people fought and won several wars except the war with the British Empire in 1897. The British overthrew the monarchy that had ruled the kingdom for almost a thousand years and replaced it with an interregnum that lasted for seventeen years until the monarchy was restored in 1914. This paper provides an analysis on the celebration of the Igue festival. Igue is a cultural and spiritual event, and visitors are prohibited from visiting the kingdom during the festival, especially the Europeans whose presence and economic interest in the kingdom had been regarded with suspicion for some time. This injunction Captain James Phillip, the British Consul disregarded and paid for with his life and that of his cohorts prompting a reprisal attack and subsequent looting of the kingdom’s artifacts. This study explores the rich cultural heritage of the Benin Kingdom as seen through the lens of the festival. It also examines the historical context of the festival, impact of the British invasion, and the consequences of the fall of the monarchy and the looting of its treasures. The paper takes a look at the ongoing efforts to repatriate the looted artifacts and highlights the implication of the return of these historic treasures to the people of the kingdom. It concedes that repatriation without restitution is not enough. This paper adopts a histo-cultural approach to the study.