Akenzua II

Ọmọ n'Ọba n'Ẹdo Uku Akpọlọkpọlọ, Akenzua II (7 January 1899 – 11 June 1978) was the thirty-seventh Oba of Benin reigning from 1933 until his death in 1978.

Biography Akenzua II attended Benin Government School from 1907, then King's College, Lagos, from 1918, passing the Junior Cambridge exam in 1921. Akenzua II was enthroned as Oba of Benin in April 1933 following the death of his father, Eweka II (r.1914 – 1933) in February that year. Oba Akenzua II was dedicated to the provision of western education for his subjects, the Edo people.

Oba Akenzua II died on 11 June 1978, when he was succeeded by his son, then Prince Solomon, who took on the title of Oba Erediauwa and duties as the traditional leader of the Edo people in Benin City, Nigeria.

Family

In 1923 his first son, Prince Solomon Aiseokhuoba Igbinoghodua Akenzua, was born. His chosen title was founded on the name Ere, relating to Oba Eresonye who is traditionally considered to be an incredibly wealthy Oba.

Efforts to recover Benin royal objects Akenzua II sought the return of royal objects removed from the Benin royal palace during the Benin Expedition of 1897. Among the objects he sought were two royal stools, one brass and one wooden, which were in the collection of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin.

In February 1935, Akenzua II raised the issue of the stools with Ivor Windsor-Clive, 2nd Earl of Plymouth, during Plymouth's visit to Benin. The stools were located in Berlin in 1936. The German ethnologist and art historian Eckart von Sydow assisted in identifying them. . German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock handed over 22 Benin Bronzes , including the royal stools, to Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed . On 18 May 2024, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments handed them over to Akenzua II's successor, Ewuare II, at the Royal Palace in Benin City.