The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the attack on Dr Pedro Agbonifo Obaseki, popularly known as Don Pedro Obaseki, by suspected thugs over allegations of disrespect to the Oba of Benin.
The incident reportedly occurred on Sunday at Uwa Primary School, Benin City, where Obaseki had gone to play football. He was allegedly accosted by a group of thugs, stripped naked and forcibly taken to the Oba of Benin Palace, where he was compelled to kneel.
In a statement signed by the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Osa-Ogbegie, the PDP described the attack as dehumanising and a grave humiliation of Obaseki’s person.
The statement read in part:
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the daylight attack, stripping and dehumanising humiliation of Dr Pedro Agbonifo Obaseki at Uwa Primary School, Benin City, by a mob now widely identified as overzealous youth members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“What occurred was not a spontaneous outburst. It was a premeditated ambush. Dr Obaseki, who had gone to his regular football spot, was accosted, harassed, threatened with death, stripped naked and forcibly dragged toward the Oba of Benin Palace. Videos in circulation leave no room for doubt. This was barbarism in its rawest form—evil, uncivilised and utterly repugnant.”
The PDP stressed that the actions of the attackers did not represent the values, history or culture of the Benin people.
“Benin civilisation is renowned for dignity, restraint, order and respect for human worth. The hooligans who carried out this atrocity do not speak for Benin nor embody its culture. They are a disgrace to it,” the party said.
The opposition party described Obaseki as an illustrious son of Benin and a respected intellectual and media voice whose scholarship and advocacy have contributed positively to Edo State and Nigeria.
“To brutalise such a citizen in public view is to drag Edo’s name through the mud before the world,” the statement added.
The PDP further situated the incident within what it described as a troubling pattern of rising lawlessness, intimidation and political violence in Edo State over the past year, allegedly driven by politically protected thugs.
“Assaults go unpunished, perpetrators are shielded, and official silence has become policy. The result is a climate of fear in which citizens are uncertain of their safety and sceptical of state protection,” the statement noted.
The party warned against attempts to justify the attack under the guise of traditional grievance, stressing that no cultural institution sanctions human rights abuses.
“For the avoidance of doubt, no palace, including the revered institution of the Oba of Benin authorises torture, stripping or degrading treatment. If any citizen is alleged to have committed an offence, the police station, not the street, is the lawful venue. No individual, mob or political gang is above the law,” the statement concluded.
