Pedro Obaseki, a former managing director of Daar Communications and current chief executive officer of Hosamudia Farm, has recounted a disturbing encounter in which he said he was forcefully taken and attacked by a group of suspected thugs in Benin City, 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.

Footage of the episode later circulated widely on social media, showing him being overpowered by a group of men and taken to the palace of the Oba of Benin, where he was compelled to kneel at the entrance.

Speaking shortly after regaining his freedom, Obaseki said the men suddenly stormed the football ground and seized him without explanation.

He explained that despite repeatedly demanding to know who they were and why he was being taken, he was ignored and instead led through several streets in the city.

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Obaseki described the experience as degrading and emotionally distressing, saying he was subjected to public humiliation during the ordeal.

“While playing football with my football mates at Uwa Primary School in Benin, the place was attacked by assailants and I was physically abducted,” he said.

“I was basically kidnapped. Some of them were holding guns, some of them known thugs, luckily I have their names, and they hauled me through the streets of Benin under the guise that they’ve been sent to abduct me by the palace of the Oba of Benin.

“I begged them to show me some form of ID. But I was dragged, beaten severely, manhandled and dragged through streets up to Ring Road where I was stripped naked and taken into the palace.

“I was meant to kneel in full public glare. I’ve never been so humiliated. I am who I am because of my nativity. I’ve served my culture and now I don’t know what to say.

“I was later released and taken to a police station where the commissioner of police came to see me three times before he ordered my release from the police station at Oba market road.”

“From the countenance I met at the palace, it was clear that they did not send these people on this message. I am traumatised. I’m distraught,” he added.

“And I heard that my sin was that I went to London and in a public statement I said ‘may Edo people live long and prosper’ but instead I should have said that may the Oba live long and prosper.

“They said saying that is a cardinal sin in Benin for me who has elevated the culture of the Benin race in my 35 to 40 years as the pioneer of the present Nollywood.”