France Returns Esie Statue To Nigeria

Damilola Oyedele, 'France Returns Esie Statue To Nigeria', ThisDayLive 16 Jul 2013
 The Government of France, in line with its current "hardline stance against trafficking in art works and historical items" has returned a valuable artefact, an Esie statute, stolen from Nigeria in 2011 and seized by Customs officials at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. The statue, which originated from Kwara State is said to be between 500 to 900 years old. Five items of Nok origin were returned to Nigeria in February this year by the French government.

UPDATE 4th January 2014:
The Esie Statues From Kwara State Over 230 years after the discovery of the Esie Statues in Kwara State, the mystery surrounding their carvers remains unravelled. The Esie Statues comprise about 1,500 soap stones neatly seated in a semi-circle formation under a palm tree with the Oba Ere (king of the images) seated in the middle as if presiding over a community meeting. Esie, about 53 kilometres from Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, is an ancient Igbomina town in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State that is rich in unique historical monuments. The statues were discovered in a thick forest near the community. Although the inhabitants of the area have been unable to explain the origin of the Esie statue, legend has it that around 1775, a powerful hunter and founder of the town, Baragbon, discovered the statues. In 1945, precisely 170 years after Baragbon's historic discovery and about two years after the founding of the Nigeria Antiquity Service, now known as the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), the British colonial government established the first museum in Nigeria, the Esie National Museum, Kwara State.