‘I’m traumatized, distraught,’ Obaseki’s cousin recount abduction, beating, stripping ordeal in Edo

Don Pedro Obaseki, a cousin of former Edo state governor Godwin Obaseki, on Sunday, December 28, recounted how he was abducted, beaten, and stripped by suspected assailants in Benin City, Edo state, saying the ordeal has left him traumatized and distraught.

Speaking on Sunday, following suspected thugs stripped him naked and took him to the Oba of Benin’s Palace, Obaseki said the incident occurred at about 11:30 a.m. while he was playing football with members of the Uwa All Stars at Uwa Primary School in Benin.

He said armed men stormed the field, abducted him, and dragged him through several streets in the city, claiming they were acting on the orders of the Oba of Benin’s palace.

“I was physically abducted, kidnapped by some of them holding guns, and I was hauled through the streets of Benin under the guise that they were sent by the palace of the Oba of Benin,” Obaseki said.

“I begged them to show me some form of identification, but they did not. I was dragged, beaten severely, manhandled, and taken through Igbisawan street to Akpapava, which is a major thoroughfare in Benin, and then to Ring road, where I was stripped naked and taken to the Oba’s palace, where I was meant to kneel publicly.

“I have never been so humiliated. 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 remains traumatised by the incident and was told his offence was making a public statement in London.

“From the countenance I met at the palace, it was clear that they did not send these people on this mission. I am traumatised. I’m distraught,” he added.

“I was told my sin was that I went to London and, in a public statement, said, ‘May Edo people live long and prosper,’ instead of saying, ‘May the Oba live long and prosper.’ I was told that saying ‘May Edo people live long and prosper’ is a cardinal sin in Benin—me, who has elevated the culture of the Benin race for 35 to 40 years as a pioneer of the present Nollywood.”