Don Pedro Obaseki, a former managing director of Daar Communications and chief executive officer (CEO) of Hosamudia Farm, has narrated how he was allegedly abducted, beaten and stripped by suspected assailants in Benin City, Edo State.
Pedro, a cousin of Godwin Obaseki, former governor of Edo, was attacked on Sunday while playing football with friends at Uwa Primary School in Benin.
In a viral video, he was marched through Benin City naked, ending at the gate to the palace of the Oba of Benin, where he was forced to kneel down.
His attackers told the palace guards that they brought in an “Oghion” (enemy) of the Oba.
Some palace chiefs who addressed the suspected thugs spoke in Bini language that the Oba was going to the Holy Arousa Church for thanksgiving service to mark the end of the Igue festival.
According to one of the chiefs: “Today is Thanksgiving Day at the Holy Arousa.
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“We don’t want any trouble.
“If there is anybody that counts himself as an enemy of the Oba, allow him and see how he will end up.”
The chiefs later took Obaseki inside the palace despite the protest by his attackers.
Speaking hours after his release, Pedro said the “assailants” invaded the football field and forcibly took him away.
He said he repeatedly asked the attackers to identify themselves but was instead beaten and dragged through major streets in the city.
He said, “I was physically abducted, in short, physically kidnapped, some of them holding guns… and they hauled me through the streets of Benin under the guise that they’ve been sent to come and abduct me by the palace of the Oba of Benin.
“I begged them to show me some form of ID, of course not, I was dragged, beaten severely, manhandled and dragged through Igbisawan Street up to Akpapava, which is the main thoroughfare in Benin and up to Ring Road, where I was stripped naked and taken into the palace of the Oba of Benin and where I was meant to kneel publicly.
“I’ve never been so humiliated because I am who I am because of my nativity, my Beninness.”
He further disclosed that he was later taken to a police station along Oba Market Road, where the Commissioner of Police intervened and ordered his release.
Obaseki said he was traumatised by the incident and claimed he was told his offence was making a public statement in London in which he said, “May Edo people live long and prosper,” instead of referencing the Oba of Benin.
“I hear that my sin was that I went to London and in a public statement I said May Edo people live long and prosper, that I should have said May the Oba live long and prosper, that my saying may Edo people live long and prosper is a cardinal sin in Benin… for me who has elevated the culture of the Benin race in my 35 to 40 years as the pioneer of the present Nollywood,” he stated.
As of the time of reporting, neither the Oba of Benin’s Palace nor the Edo State Police Command has released an official statement regarding the incident.
