The former managing director of Daar Communications and chief executive officer (CEO) of Hosamudia Farm, Pedro Obaseki, has recounted how he was “abducted and assaulted” by suspected thugs in Benin City, Edo State.
Pedro, a cousin of former Edo State governor Godwin Obaseki, was attacked on Sunday while playing football with friends at Uwa Primary School in Benin.
A video of the incident that later went viral showed him being beaten, stripped naked and dragged to the palace of the Oba of Benin, where he was reportedly forced to kneel at the palace gate.
Speaking hours after his release, Pedro said the “assailants” stormed the football field and forcefully took him away.
He explained that despite repeatedly asking his attackers to identify themselves, he was instead beaten and dragged through major streets in the city.
Describing the ordeal as humiliating and traumatic, Pedro said he was made to kneel publicly before being released.
“While playing football with my football mates at Uwa Primary School in Benin, the place was attacked by assailants and I was physically abducted,” he said.
“I was basically kidnapped. Some of them were holding guns, some of them known thugs, luckily I have their names, and they hauled me through the streets of Benin under the guise that they’ve been sent to abduct me by the palace of the Oba of Benin.
“I begged them to show me some form of ID. But I was dragged, beaten severely, manhandled and dragged through streets up to Ring Road where I was stripped naked and taken into the palace.
“I was meant to kneel in full public glare. I’ve never been so humiliated. I am who I am because of my nativity. I’ve served my culture and now I don’t know what to say.
“I was later released and taken to a police station where the commissioner of police came to see me three times before he ordered my release from the police station at Oba market road.”
Pedro added that his interaction at the palace suggested the attackers were not acting on the directive of the Oba of Benin.
He alleged that the incident was linked to a public statement he made in London.
“From the countenance I met at the palace, it was clear that they did not send these people on this message. I am traumatised. I’m distraught,” he said.
“And I heard that my sin was that I went to London and in a public statement I said ‘may Edo people live long and prosper’ but instead I should have said that may the Oba live long and prosper.
“They said saying that 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.”