Pedro Obaseki, former managing director of Daar Communications and chief executive officer of Hosamudia Farm, has recounted a disturbing experience in Benin City, Edo State, where he said he was abducted and assaulted by suspected thugs.
Gatekeepers News reports that the incident reportedly happened on Sunday while Pedro, who is a cousin of former Governor Godwin Obaseki, was playing football with friends at Uwa Primary School.
According to him, the game was abruptly disrupted when armed men stormed the field and forcefully took him away.
A video that later circulated online showed Pedro being beaten, stripped, and taken through the streets before he was led to the palace of the Oba of Benin, where he was made to kneel at the entrance in full public view.
Narrating his ordeal after his release, Pedro said the attackers refused to identify themselves despite his repeated requests. He explained that he was dragged across major roads in the city and subjected to public humiliation.
He said, “While playing football with my football mates at Uwa Primary School in Benin, the place was attacked by assailants and I was physically abducted.”
“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 further stated that his interaction at the palace suggested the attack was not ordered by the Oba of Benin. He claimed the incident may have been linked to a statement he made during a public appearance in London.
He added, “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.”
“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 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.”
As of the time of reporting, there has been no official statement from the palace or the Edo State Police Command on the matter.
