| Intro | Oba of benin | ||||
| From | Benin | ||||
| Gender | male | ||||
| Birth |
1899 |
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| Death |
1978 |
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| Family |
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Omo n’Oba n’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Akenzua II (1899–1978) was the Oba of Benin (traditional leader of the Edo people, in Nigeria) from 1933 until his death in 1978.
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.
In 1936, Oba Akenzua II began the movement to return to Nigeria the Benin Bronzes looted from the royal compounds and ancestral altars in the punitive Benin Expedition of 1897. During his reign, only two of the 3,000 royal court bronzes were returned. However, two coral crowns and coral bead garment, thought to have belonged to Ovonramwen, were returned to him in the late 1930s by G.M. Miller a son of a member of the Benin expedition, who had loaned the pieces to the British Museum in 1935.
Oba Akenzua II died in 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.