The unacceptable humiliation of Obaseki
* NANTAP, Barr. Igelige condemn attack on Obaseki
By Nnamdi Okosieme
TODAY, (Sunday, December 28, 2025) is a sad day for me and I believe for many others who cherish freedom and creativity. I am diminished that one of Nigeria’s leading culture ambassadors was today humiliated like a criminal who had committed the most heinous crime.
It was painful to me to see Dr. Don Pedro Obsseki, my friend and brother of nearly 40 years, stripped to his boxers and dragged through the streets of Benin City by individuals who ordinarily should be in awe of him and his accomplishments.
As an undergraduate at the University of Benin, Benin City studying Theatre Arts in the mid to late 1980s, there were a few students that fired my zeal to excel. One of those students was Pedro. Though a year younger than me, he was two years my senior. He was very brilliant.
Underline the word brilliant.
He had books many students didn’t have, played hard and studied hard. I admired him from afar at first and then later started emulating him. Some of my classmates and I would pick his brains and always found something worthy to take away.
He was that good. It was thus not surprising that immediately he left the university and completed the mandatory NYSC scheme, he was employed by the Theatre Arts Department at a young age of 21 years.
That job was his spring board as he would later go on to achieve big things. To give you a sense of his accomplishments, I will reproduce excerpts of an article written in The Guardian newspaper to commemorate his 50th birthday eight years ago:
“Educated at the University of Benin and University of Ibadan, Obaseki, who had a teaching stint at the University of Benin, Benin City, and was at a time General Manager in charge of programmes at the Degue Broadcasting Network, otherwise DBN television in Lagos, has written several plays and produced and directed a number of home movies and television soaps.
“His first full-length play, Rendezvous at Hell Gate, was performed at the University of Benin in 1989, same year he began a career as a lecturer at just age 21.
“A two-time recipient of the Oba Erediauwa Award for Excellence (2011 and 2013), a recipient of the 2013 ‘Nollywood Distinguished Veteran’ Award and Chief Executive Officer of ACC Broadcast Multimedia Ltd (operators of MTN-ACCMobileTV/PIDGIN-TV), Obaseki grew up in Warri and Agbor, both in Delta State, and Benin City.
“An old boy of the prestigious Unity School, Agbarho, near Warri, Obaseki holds a doctorate degree in Performance and Praxis. A prolific writer of plays, poetry and an accomplished motion picture director, he did his national service in Kaduna and was formerly President of the Filmmakers Cooperative of Nigeria (FCON).
“An award-winning director and one of the very few motion picture practitioners of Nollywood industry in the professional class, Obaseki directed an international television documentary, Oshogbo and Adunni Olorisha Susanne Wenger, with Dr. Adama Ulrich for ORB Brandenburg, Berlin and with Thorolf Lipp (a German documentary filmmaker) on Adire Batik in 1996.
“An accomplished documentary filmmaker, playwright, stage director and unarguably a pioneer of Nigeria’s film industry, Obaseki has written, produced and directed several movies, television dramas and documentaries.
“The epic adventure movie, Igodo, which he co-directed with Andy Amenechi, earned him a Best Director award at the 1999 edition of the defunct The Movie Awards (THEMA).
“His home-video film, Eziza, was well received and also screened in London, United Kingdom and South Africa. As a playwright, he is well accomplished. His most popular stage work, Obaseki, is presently on high school curricula in parts of Nigeria and in Nigerian universities and was Africa’s entry for the Euro Culture-City ’96 Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“His other play, Azagidi, was performed in the Scandinavia in February and March of 1999 and also used to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the MUSON Cnetre in October 2003 and was the convocation play of the University of Lagos last year.
“Author of Songs of a Prodigal (an anthology of poems), Idia (a play), The Bridge (a play), Days of Rage (television soap), Eziza (movie), Brave Soldiers (movie) and Tara (movie), Obaseki holds and has held so many management positions, including owning franchises and proprietary rights to the Nollywood movie channel, MoviStar (former Channels 333 and 330 on Sky UK), and 1-MIC (a music channel available via satellite over West Africa).
“He was at a time member of the Governing Board of the Centre of Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC), a parastatal of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism…”
Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki
I have reproduced this article at length to contextualize the unfortunate event that happened in Benin City. Without sounding hyperbolic, I doubt that there is any scholar or artist in the last three decades who has done more to promote Benin culture and tradition through his craft than Pedro Obaseki.
He has been an excellent ambassador of Benin culture. He lives it and breathes it. Ordinarily, he should be treasured and honoured by his people. To see him humiliated like he was by those individuals is thus shocking and painful.
What makes it worse is that the individuals who brutalized him claimed to be acting in the interest of the Oba of Benin.
I grew up in Benin City and I can categorically state that the current Oba of Benin is a cultured individual as was his father, Oba Erediauwa. He will not sanction this kind of barbarism. In fact, from the body language of the chiefs when Dr. Obaseki was taken to the palace, it was clear those individuals acted on their own.
The palace should thus immediately disown them and have them handed over to the police for prosecution.
Statement by Don Pedro Obaseki
MY name is Dr. Pedro Obaseki. On Sunday, 28th December 2025, at about 11:00–11:30am, while playing football at Uwa Primary School, Igbesanmwan Street, Benin City, I was suddenly attacked by a group of men.
The attackers, some of whom were armed and brandishing guns, forcibly abducted and kidnapped me. These individuals who led this attack identified themselves and this has been duly incidented with law enforcement.
During the course of the abduction, they repeatedly stated that they had been sent by the Oba’s Palace to seize me. They alleged that the Palace was angry with me over a speech I had delivered to Edo people in London, which I reportedly closed with the phrase “Edo gha to kpere” (meaning “Long live the Edo people”) instead of “Oba gha to kpere” (meaning “Long live the Oba of Benin”). They further claimed that they had been sent to deal with any Obaseki, beginning with me. My abductors stated that the abduction of Dr. Pedro Obaseki will continue in further attacks on all Obasekis.
I was severely beaten, dragged along the streets, and stripped completely naked. I was dragged along Igbesanmwan Road, taken to the front of Holy Aruosa Church, and publicly paraded in my nakedness. From there, I was further dragged around Ring Road and forcibly taken into the Oba’s Palace. The public beating, stripping, and humiliation occurred over a distance of approximately five (5) kilometres.
Inside the Oba Palace premises, I was slapped, beaten, gagged, and forced to kneel while naked. While in this condition, I attempted to plead for my life and dignity as the Oba drove past me within the palace compound. Thereafter, I was forced into a Hilux vehicle and transported to the Oba Market Police Station.
I was detained at the police station for approximately five (5) hours. During this period, the State Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, visited the Station on three (3) separate occasions and informed me that I would be released pending clearance from the Oba. Eventually, at about 5:15pm, I was released from custody.
This statement is a true and accurate account of the events as they occurred.
NANTAP condemns humiliation, inhuman treatment of Obaseki, demands justice
THE Nigerian Association of Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the disgraceful, dehumanising, and utterly unacceptable humiliation meted out to Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki, a respected cultural worker, politician, and intellectual.
A statement by the President of NANTAP, Mr. Adeniran Makinde, said Obaseki’s public humiliation represents a gross violation of human dignity, a shameful abuse of power, and an affront to the values of civility, justice, and respect upon which any sane society must stand. No individual—regardless of circumstance—deserves to be subjected to public humiliation, physical or psychological abuse, or treatment that strips them of their humanity.
Dr. Obaseki is not merely an individual; he is a symbol of Nigeria’s creative and intellectual community—a man who has invested all his creative energies into promoting culture. An attack on his dignity is an attack on the entire cultural sector and the nation’s conscience.
NANTAP therefore demands “an immediate, transparent, and thorough investigation into the incident by the appropriate authorities, identification and prosecution of all persons involved, directly or indirectly, in accordance with the full weight of the law, public accountability from institutions or agencies found complicit in this inhuman act, concrete assurances that such barbaric conduct will not be tolerated or repeated against any Nigerian citizen and that since our country Nigeria is in a constitutional democracy, we demand that the rule of law be adhered to always and in all circumstances.”
The statement added that “Nigeria must not become a place where intimidation, humiliation, and lawlessness are normalised. The rule of law must prevail over impunity, and justice must not be selective.
“NANTAP stands in solidarity with Dr. Obaseki, his family, colleagues, and all advocates of human rights, dignity, and freedom of expression. We call on the government, civil society, the creative community, and all well-meaning Nigerians to speak with one voice against this injustice.
“An injury to one is an injury to all!”
Lawyer and former student, Rockson Igelige, condemns attack on Obaseki
I strongly condemn the unlawful assault, public humiliation, and degradation of Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki, Nigerian actor and respected son of the Benin nation, by a group of thugs on Sunday in Benin City, Edo State. Let me emphasise that the ambushing, kidnapping, stripping, molestation, harassment, tongue-lashing amidst threats of death, and coercive dragging of Dr. Obaseki to the Palace of the Oba of Benin, under the claim that he is an ‘Oghionoba’ (Enemy of the Oba) while he was on his regular football exercise at Uwa Primary School in Benin City, is barbaric, criminal, and totally unacceptable under the rule of law.
This act is condemnable, shameful, and in every sense, very un-Benin.
The actions captured in widely circulated videos, showing Dr .Obaseki stripped to his boxers, forced to kneel, and made to crawl within palace premises, constitute a gross violation of his fundamental human rights as guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. No allegation, cultural dispute, or political disagreement justifies mob action, public humiliation, or physical abuse of any citizen.
It is important to state clearly that those who carried out this attack, even if they claim to be acting on behalf of the Benin Traditional Council, do not represent the values, culture, history, or true character of the Benin people. The Benin nation is historically known for order, dignity, civility, and respect for authority exercised within clearly defined cultural and legal boundaries. Barbarism, hooliganism, and mob violence are alien to the authentic Benin ethos and must not be falsely clothed with tradition.
Dr. Obaseki is an illustrious son of Benin whose contributions to the creative industry, cultural advocacy, and public discourse are properly documented. He has consistently projected Benin customs, traditions, values, and history with intellectual depth. At no time has he posed a threat to public peace, communal harmony, or the authority of any traditional institution.
I therefore call on the Edo State Government, the State Command of the State Commissioner of Police, relevant security agencies, and appropriate authorities to immediately commence a transparent and thorough investigation into this matter and ensure that all those involved, regardless of status or affiliation, are brought to justice. Justice must not only be done, but it must also be seen to be done, particularly given how glaringly the video of the mob action against Dr. Obaseki has gone viral.
I stand in solidarity with Dr. Obaseki, my lecturer in Theatre Arts for three years at the University of Benin at this painful and humiliating moment. He deserves respect, and redress.
* Igelige, an entertainment lawyer and author of Madman’s Kingdom, was a former student of Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki in Theatre Arts at the University of Benin, Benin City
