Cambridge students call for return of Benin statue

Students have called for a bronze statue adorning a Cambridge college to be returned to Nigeria. It was taken from the country in the 19th century, writes Corey Charlton for MailOnline.

In a row similar to the furore that has engulfed Oxford's Oriel College, students at Jesus College, Cambridge have voted in favour of telling their master the statue should be returned. One student described the row as the “new Cecil Rhodes”, in a reference to a campaign to remove a controversial statue of the tycoon from an Oxford college, The Sunday Times reported.

The cockerel statue is a Nigerian Benin Bronze, of which more than 2,000 sit in museums and collections across the globe. But Nigeria itself has only 50 pieces of the artworks and the statue remains in the college's dining hall despite the country's requests for the bronzes to be returned. It was given to the college as a reference to the surname of founder John Alcock, the bishop and architect who constructed the college.
Full report on the Daily Mail site