MOWAA – A troubled institution
The controversy surrounding the establishment of the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) became messier and more complicated on Monday following the decision of the Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, to outrightly revoke the Right of Occupancy (R.O.O.) earlier granted to the museum’s management by his predecessor, Godwin Obaseki.
The governor’s revocation order, contained in a personally signed statement and dated October 21, 2025, was made public on Monday November 10, 2025, in Benin City, the state capital.
Governor Okpebholo said the revocation was done “in the overriding public interest,” citing the authority vested in him by Sections 28 and 38 of the Land Use Decree No. 6 of 1978 (now the Land Use Act).
At a recent press conference ahead of Governor Okpebholo’s one year in office on November 12, 2025, Prince Kassim Afegbua, commissioner for information and strategy, disclosed that the state government, under Obaseki invested N3 billion in EMOWAA yet said to have no stake in it, while the management of the museum were discovered to have taken more land than they were given.
Therefore revoking the land title in his official statement titled, “Land Use Decree 1978: Revocation of Statutory Rights of Occupancy Pursuant to Sections 28 and 38,” Governor Okpebholo declared that the land previously allocated to the Edo Museum of West African Art Trust (EMOWAA) Ltd/GTE has been reclaimed by the state and would be restored to its original use as the Benin Central Hospital, a historic medical institution that has served the city for over a century.
The statement read: “Notice is hereby given that in exercise of the power conferred upon me by Section (28) 1 and 38 of the Land Use Decree No. 6 of 1978 and by virtue of all other laws enabling me on that behalf, I, Sen. Monday Okpebholo, Executive Governor of Edo State of Nigeria, hereby revoke the Statutory Rights of Occupancy granted to Edo Museum Of West African Art Trust (EMOWAA) Ltd/GTE for overriding public interest.”
Governor Okpebholo explained that the land in question, known as Digital Plot No. 61977, Zone HI/A12/Ogboka, Benin City, in Oredo Local Government Area, measures approximately 6.210 hectares and was the site of the demolished Central Hospital, controversially cleared during Obaseki’s tenure to make way for the museum project.
He further noted that the boundaries of the property were contained in the survey attached to the Certificate of Occupancy dated November 28, 2022, registered as No. 169 at page 3 in Volume 45, and now kept in the EDOGIS Land Registry, Benin City.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that the fate that had befallen EMOWAA was not unexpected as it had been dogged by controversy since inception when Obaseki demolished the over century old Central Hospital to accommodate a museum, attracting umbrage and series of protests.
It became compounded when the former governor dumped the idea of a Benin Royal Museum for a private arrangement thus pitching him against the palace of the Oba of Benin on the one hand and the state government on the other hand.
There was renewed tension when the management of EMOWAA announced programmes for the opening of the facility to the public scheduled for November 11, 2025.
The event was preceded with Sunday’s preview week which was to dovetail into the main event but was aborted by thugs who claimed the museum belonged to the Oba of Benin.
When the EU Ambassador to Nigeria Mr. Gautier Mignot, and the German Ambassador, Dr. Annett Günther, paid him a courtesy call at the Government House, the Governor faulted what he described as a “gross lack of transparency” by the immediate-past administration in handling the project.
He explained to his visitors that “The controversy surrounding MOWAA stems from the lack of openness by the previous government”, stating that “It is curious how the project evolved from the Benin Royal Museum to the Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA), and now to the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA), without clarity or consultation with our revered traditional institution.”
During a courtesy visit to him, Oba Ewuare II, accused Obaseki of diverting donor funds and altering the original plan for the Benin Royal Museum without the palace’s consent.
The Oba had described the former governor’s actions as a betrayal of trust, alleging that the former administration sought to “mortgage” the rights of the Benin people over their ancestral artefacts through the establishment of the Legacy Restoration Trust—a private entity said to have taken control of the museum project.