AfriPulse
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the attack on a former Managing Director of DAAR Communications, Pedro Obaseki, by armed thugs, reportedly acting under the instructions of the palace of the Oba of Benin.
Naija News reports that Pedro, a cousin of former Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, was attacked at Uwa Primary School, where he had gone to play football.
Pedro was subjected to physical assault, intimidation, and torture by the armed thugs before being forcefully taken to the palace.
A viral video circulating on social media shows the armed thugs taking Pedro, who was already stripped of his clothing, to the palace, where some palace chiefs ceremoniously received them.
The suspected thugs reportedly told palace guards that they had brought an Oghion (enemy) of the Oba.
However, some palace chiefs, who addressed the suspected thugs in Bini language, said the Oba had gone to the Holy Arousa Cathedral for a thanksgiving service to mark the end of the Igue festival.
The chiefs later took Pedro inside the palace, despite protests from the suspected thugs.
PDP, in a statement on Sunday, through its Publicity Secretary, DAN Osa-Ogbegie, accused youth members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of being responsible for the physical assault, stripping, and dehumanising humiliation of Pedro.
The party questioned the legal basis for Pedro’s arrest while the perpetrators of the physical assault are allowed to roam freely.
The opposition party further made the following demands.
“The immediate identification, arrest, and prosecution of all persons involved in the assault, trial by ordeal, and humiliation of Dr. Pedro Obaseki, regardless of political affiliation.
“A clear and unequivocal disassociation by all traditional institutions from this criminal act.
“A public explanation from the Edo State Government and the Police Command for their failure to protect a citizen and their apparent tolerance of mob violence.
“Concrete and visible measures to dismantle political thuggery and restore the rule of law in Edo State.”
While expressing sympathy to Pedro Obaseki and his family, PDP maintained that Edo State is not a crime scene and Benin is not a jungle.
The statement added, “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.
“We are compelled to ask troubling questions arising from credible reports that Dr. Pedro Obaseki was eventually taken to a police station. On what legal basis was the victim of a violent assault conveyed to the police, while his assailants roamed free? Why was the full coercive power of the State not immediately deployed against those who stripped, brutalised, and publicly humiliated a citizen? This inversion of justice, where the violated is treated as suspect and the violators are indulged, strikes at the heart of the rule of law.
“In this regard, the PDP directly calls on the Commissioner of Police, Edo State Command, to rise to the solemn constitutional duty of his office. The Commissioner must protect citizens, not behave like a partisan appendage of the APC. Law enforcement must not be reduced to a political instrument. Only days ago, Edo people were confronted with public complaints concerning the brutal assault of a lady by one Shaba, who allegedly battered her with impunity. Before that, the State watched in shame as Ebo Stone physically assaulted a female journalist inside Edo Government House itself. In all these cases, justice has been lethargic, selective, or altogether absent.”
Source: Naijanews.com | Read the Full Story…
