The Yoruba Progressive Elites Forum (YPEF) has announced its plan to seek a perpetual court injunction to stop Nigerian-American artist Uzo Njoku’s forthcoming show, “An Owambe Exhibition.”
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that on 5 August, Ms Njoku unveiled plans for her debut homecoming exhibition in Lagos on her Instagram page.
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The exhibition will open in Ikoyi, Lagos State, from 23 November to 24 January 2026.
The exhibition, featuring nine new paintings, will explore themes ranging from intergenerational conflict and queer identity to female beauty standards, childhood ambiguity, and spiritual resilience.
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The exhibition, a homecoming showcase featuring new works that reimagine the contemporary Nigerian experience through texture, tradition, and truth, drew criticism from the Yoruba community.
Some Yoruba commentators on X (formerly Twitter) described it (the exhibition) as a malicious and systematic erasure of their cultural heritage.
They alleged that the exhibition was deliberately designed to undermine Yoruba identity.
They accused Ms Njoku of appropriating Yoruba cultural items, renaming them, and overlaying Igbo insignia.
Allegations
One user, Ariremako, claimed that the works combined Yoruba textiles such as Adire with the colours and symbols of the Biafran flag, while simultaneously amplifying narratives portraying Lagos as a “xenophobic state.”
Ariremako further alleged that Ms Njoku’s planned exhibition was a calculated attempt to reframe Lagos in hostile terms and to embed separatist ideology within public consciousness.
“The danger lies in the subtlety. By embedding Biafran colours into Yoruba fabrics, attaching Igbo names to Yoruba traditions, and falsely presenting Lagos as anti-Igbo, such exhibitions attempt to rewrite history and alienate Lagosians from their own cultural heritage.
This is cultural subversion with a political undertone, designed to delegitimise the identity of Lagos while promoting a proscribed group’s narrative. Left unchecked, this becomes a hostile takeover of Lagos’ image and legacy.
For an artist to merge Yoruba cultural expressions with IPOB-coded symbols is not innocent creativity; it is the laundering of extremist ideology through the soft power of culture.
“If tolerated in Lagos, this emboldens others to replicate the same subversion under the cover of ‘art’ or ‘expression.” Lagos State, Nigeria’s economic and cultural capital of the Yoruba people, cannot afford such dangerous infiltration.
We must protect its heritage, institutions, and peace from being undermined by groups that seek to destabilise Nigeria. If IPOB-coded art is allowed to circulate freely in Lagos, it will not only embolden sympathisers but also normalise extremist narratives in mainstream society, particularly among the unsuspecting youth. This is a direct security concern that warrants urgent attention,” his post partly read.
Online petition
The backlash also sparked an online petition urging the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, alongside Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to halt the exhibition.
The petition called on the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Police Force to summon Ms Njoku, investigate the underlying motives behind the exhibition, and clarify that Lagos would not be a platform for rebranding proscribed movements.
The anonymous petition published on onevoice.com.ng has since attracted over 16,252 signatures, demanding the cancellation of the exhibition because it misrepresented Yoruba culture.
The critics further faulted Ms Njoku for spelling “Owanbe” as “Owambe,” a Yoruba term for lavish parties, and accused her of appropriating Yoruba traditions without proper acknowledgement or consultation.
Legal action
The row escalated on Monday when Omotooyosi Akinleye, the Olukosi of Ilukosi-Ijesa in Osun State, announced on his X page that YPEF, at its recent meeting, resolved to pursue legal action against Ms Njoku.
Mr Akinleye wrote: “My team and I arrived in Lagos this morning to take every necessary action against Miss Uzo’s scheduled exhibition to disrespect our heritage. It will be a long week for those planning to spit on our cultureẹ ku ojumọ.
During our meeting today at Yoruba Progressive Elites Forum, we concluded to approach Miss Uzo’s matter legally through the Court by seeking a perpetual injunction on the premises to prevent chaos, disorder, breakdown of peace, and the preservation of lives.
“The attempt to appropriate a known Yoruba cultural value, the corruption of our values and subsequent denigration of our peoples and our beliefs and ways of life.
This will evidently bring about injuries to sensibilities and outright violence between otherwise peaceful residents and the indigenes. Please post any evidence, including video and tweets from Miss Uzo, to help this case under this tweet. Thank you in advance.”
Right protection
Furthermore, in a series of posts on X, the monarch declared that he would ensure the rights of indigenous people were protected, whether in Lagos, Kano, or Enugu.
He vowed to personally mobilise supporters to halt Ms Njoku’s upcoming exhibition if the Lagos State Government failed to intervene.
“Indigenous people’s rights must be protected, be it Lagos, Kano or Enugu; this is the only way Nigeria can survive. Uzo will not only have Lagosians to deal with on that day, she and her crew will have to deal with people from Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Kabba.
“This is not about Lagos, it’s about the entire Yoruba people, it’s our collective heritage they want to spit on. I will personally mobilise 100s, if not thousands, of people to stop this event if Lagos State refuses to do the needful, no matter what it costs me. This disrespect of our heritage must stop”, said Mr Akinleye.
Ms Njoku responds
However, Ms Njoku resisted the criticism, clarifying that the exhibition was never intended to spotlight Yoruba heritage.
In an interview on TVC Entertainment Extra, posted on YouTube on Friday, she explained that the exhibition aimed to showcase her artwork while celebrating the broader creative landscape in Lagos.
“The show isn’t about Yoruba cultural heritage; the show is highlighting Nigerian creators. The name Owambe was the name I needed to capture the moment when celebration was happening and going on in Lagos.
“I’m not talking about the Yoruba heritage. That is not what this show is about. I feel like I can keep talking about it, but I can only show it through my actions.
All the integrations done and everything is empowering the youth and putting more, and trying to show how art programming needs to be, not only in Nigeria, but in the world”, said Ms Njoku.
Owambe
Speaking about her choice of the term Owambe, the artist explained, “I used Owambe as a word to describe what this moment is. I keep working towards the show because I know it’s not true. My job is not to highlight Yoruba heritage, and that’s not what the show is about.
“The show is about my artwork and highlighting Nigerian creatives in Lagos and capturing this melting pot and all these people that have come to, who are part of the music industry, who are part of Nollywood, everything, like, all I can say is you’re going to see basically by the show, the team behind it, and all the efforts of influencers bringing this to life and just showing Nigeria to the world, basically.
As I said, this show is not about capturing any heritage or culture.”
She added that the exhibition would be free of charge and would showcase two distinct types of fabrics, among other offerings.
“It is not just offered in Ankara. It’s provided in denim, satin, and mesh. So we want people not just to sew traditional, but something you can always wear outside.
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And these photos will be put in a photo book that will really show this moment in time in Lagos.
“Aside from that, our programming is that Lauren will come down to the exhibition to perform African folklores to children between 18 months and six years old.
We have scriptwriters revising it so that it’s digestible to children. We have a Yoruba team called the Show Idea, so people can learn how to make dye bags on one of the programming days.”
