The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has condemned the attack by thugs on Don Pedro Obaseki over his alleged disrespect to the Oba of Benin .
Don Pedro Obaseki was apprehended by thugs at Uwa Primary school, where he has gone to play football, stripped naked and taken to the Oba palace, where he was forced to kneel down.
The main opposition party in a statement signed by the state publicity secretary,DAN Osa-Ogbegie said the attack was dehumanizing and a humiliation of the person of Don Pedro Obaseki.
The PDP said: “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, who have become a recurring decimal in acts of assault, intimidation, and political violence across Edo State, especially Benin City since last year.
“What occurred on Sunday was not a spontaneous outburst. It was a premeditated ambush. Dr. Obaseki, who had gone to play football at his regular spot, was accosted by a mob, harassed, threatened with death, stripped naked, and forcibly dragged towards the Palace of the Oba of Benin. Videos circulating widely leave no room for doubt. This was barbarism in its rawest form. It was evil, uncivilised, and utterly repugnant.” The party said.
The party maintained that the conduct does not represent the character, history, or values 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 do they embody its culture. They are a disgrace to it.
“Dr. Pedro Obaseki is an illustrious son of Benin, a respected intellectual and media voice whose scholarship and advocacy have enriched Edo and Nigeria. He poses no threat to public peace. On the contrary, with his pen, insight, and global reach, he has served as a cultural and intellectual asset. To brutalise such a citizen in public view is to drag Edo’s name through the mud before the world.
“This incident must be situated within a wider and deeply disturbing pattern. Over the past year, Edo State has witnessed an alarming descent into lawlessness, street violence, intimidation, and the normalisation of mob action, largely driven by politically protected thugs masquerading as party loyalists.
“Assaults go unpunished. Perpetrators are shielded. 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 PDP notes with grave concern attempts by some to cloak this criminality in the garb of traditional grievance. For the avoidance of doubt, no palace, including the revered institution of the Oba of Benin Palace, sanctions human rights violations.
“No tradition 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, no mob, and no political gang is above the law.” He concluded.
