The former Managing Director of Daar Communications and Chief Executive Officer of Hosamudia Farm, Pedro Obaseki, has recounted how he was allegedly abducted and assaulted by suspected thugs in Benin City, the capital of Edo State.
Obaseki, who is a cousin of former Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, said the incident occurred on Sunday while he was playing football with friends at Uwa Primary School in the state capital.
A video of the incident that later went viral showed Obaseki being beaten, stripped naked, and dragged to the palace of the Oba of Benin, where he was forced to kneel at the palace gate.
Speaking hours after his release, Obaseki said the attackers stormed the football field and forcefully took him away.
He explained that despite repeatedly asking them to identify themselves, he was beaten and dragged through major streets in Benin.
Describing the ordeal as humiliating and traumatic, the former governor’s cousin said he was paraded in public and forced to kneel.
Obaseki said: “I was playing football with my mates at Uwa Primary School when assailants invaded the field and physically abducted me.
Obaseki condemns attack on cousin, demands probe
“I was basically kidnapped. Some of them were armed, and others were known thugs. I have their names.”
He stated that the attackers claimed they were acting on the orders of the Oba of Benin’s palace, adding that his requests for identification were ignored as he was beaten and manhandled.
He further said he was dragged through several streets to Ring Road, where he was stripped naked before being taken into the palace and made to kneel in full public view.
“I have never been so humiliated. I am who I am because of my nativity. I have served my culture, and now I do not know what to say,” he added.
Obaseki disclosed that he was later released and taken to a police station, where the Edo State Commissioner of Police visited him three times before ordering his release from the station on Oba Market Road.
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