In 2017, the former President of Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Stéphane Martin, cited Harter’s collection of Cameroonian sculptures as a non-violent acquisition, to refute Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy’s assertion that African cultural heritage had been acquired through colonial crimes. The digital media coverage of this statement revealed the present-day location of the Tukah Mask.
In 2018, a demand from His Majesty Tshidi Gabriel, King of Bamendou, to return their Tukah mask was denied by the Louvre Museum. Despite this negative response, plans to restore the position of the Tukah mask in Bamendou’s community and cultural life went forth.
In 2019, Cameroonian sculptor Herve Youmbi created a replica of the original Tukah mask, and the Ministry of Arts and Culture funded the ngim nu cultural festival. The latter offered an opportunity for community members to celebrate their culture, to network both personally and professionally, and to learn more about the Tukah mask and its value, through an academic conference. The festival received support from community members, local businesses, other Cameroonian chiefdoms, and media houses. Although the festival was a success, spiritual leaders from Bamendou stated that two freak environmental incidents that occurred in Bamendou shortly after the festival suggested that the original mask was angry for having been abandoned in Paris, and replaced by the replica. They believed that they would have to appease the original mask, and transfer his powers to the replica, for the Tukah mask to be truly restored. This then became the focus of the Bamendou community’s restitution efforts.
In 2021, after fruitless discussions amongst themselves, His Majesty Tshidi Gabriel was contacted by Routes des Cheffries [a prominent association of museums in Cameroon] to see if they would be interested in displaying the replica of the Tukah mask at the Cameroon Cultural Season in Paris the following year. All those who had been involved in the discussions agreed that this was a fantastic opportunity to have the two masks meet. Routes des Cheffries then facilitated the dialogue between the Musee Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, the French Embassy and Consulate in Cameroon, and the Bamendou chieftaincy for a conference and ritual ceremony to take place in Paris during the 2022 Cameroon Cultural Season.
In February 2022, the second ngim nu festival was held, further strengthening the sense of community, and raising awareness about the value and restitution of the Tukah mask, through a conference.
In June 2022, with the financial support of their diasporic community [Association Bamendou d’Europe], a delegation composed of His Majesty Tshidi Gabriel, respected elders of the community, traditional religious officers, academics and heritage experts, travelled to Paris. They participated in a conference and ritual ceremony, which took place at Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, and formed part of the broader Cameroon Cultural Season, curated by Cindy Olohou. Through the conference, the Bamendou community – for the first time – entered into a discussion with the French, presenting the various tragedies that had been endured by the removal of the Tukah mask, and the importance it still holds for present day Bamendounians. The ritual ceremony which followed the next day, was led by the traditional religious officers. A selection of plant parts and powders, as well as, incantations only known to them as chosen spiritual leaders, were used to calm the anger of the original Tukah mask and bring him into conversation with the replica, in the hopes that he would transfer his powers.