…To err is human, to forgive is divine, Says Don Pedro Obaseki to assaulters
By Simeon OSAJIE
A former Managing Director of DAAR Communications and a renowned journalist, Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki on Tuesday, 14th April, 2026 said though he was traumatized, he has forgiven those who assaulted him on Sunday, 28th December 2025, at Uwa Primary School, Benin.
The9jaTREND recall that Pedro was beaten up by some thugs led by Osaze Adun also known as Kapuepue when he went to play football at Uwa Primary School in Benin.
He was stripped naked and dragged to the Palace of the Oba of Benin.
This action angered the international community and other right thinking Nigerians so much so that some pledged to take up the case pro bono.
The Obaseki denasty has also expressed their resentment on the attack on their son.
Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki on Tuesday, said he has forgiven those who assaulted him on Sunday, December 28, 2025, at the premises of Uwa Primary School, Benin.
Recall that Pedro was beaten up by some thugs led by Osaze Adun also known as Kapuepue when he went to play football at Uwa Primary School in Benin City.
He was stripped naked and dragged to the Palace of the Oba of Benin.
He disclosed this when he received his assaulters who came to plead for forgiveness in his residence in Benin.
Pedro said he was highly traumatized by the incident but having listened to appeal from various quarters, he has no choice than to let it slide.
According to him, “Everybody is aware of the events of the 28th of December and it’s almost four months now. Myself and my children were very pained but there is a proverb in Bini that only the leopard’s cob can lick the leopard’s underside.
“I’m an Edo man, I’m an Obaseki and I wanted to use this as an affirmation that we are not the enemies of the Bini people.
“So that is the only validation I need. The only thing I wanted to say, which I will say maybe in a larger forum, is, I want to thank a few very close friends. I want to thank my family because we didn’t fall from the sky.
“Ironically, the young one behind me, (Kapuepue) his mother is also from my family.
“The Obaseki clan, we have spoken to my brothers because they’ve been on this for a while. We realised that we need to move forward.
“I would have seen myself as the sacrificial ram, meant to put everybody together. It is to repair, not to spoil. So I’m angry, I was very angry and bitter.
“I was traumatised, I was sick because when you are beating a 60-year-old man on the streets and making him walk almost two and a half, three kilometres, that’s after playing 90 minutes of football. It is the grace of God.
“But I’m coming from the farm now. When they called me, I said they were on their way. So I just wanted to do that as a respect to my own father, and my uncles and my parents because to err is human, but to forgive is divine. I am not a polarising figure in this state. I’m the only one who can walk into an APC party and not bother, and enter any PDP party and not bother.
“Me, I’m the chieftain of the ADC, I don’t bother. I always sacrifice my party-ness for my Edo-ness. You get my point? So Edo is paramount to me”.
He noted that he feels relief that those who once declared him an enemy of the Palace have come to plead for forgiveness and also state with their own mouths that I am not the enemy of the kingdom.
Pedro who said he has decided to let the sleeping dogs lie, asked them to put an undertaking that never again would they assault any one in the state noting that, should there be a repeat, he will never forgive them.
He said he was going to set up a non-governmental organization to champion the cause against assault and intimidation on any citizens of the state.
On the part of Osaze Adun who came along with other assaulters, relations and friends, said he was sorry for his action and never will such happen again.
He said they have come to realize that Pedro Obaseki has been promoting the cause of the Benin Nation and never an enemy of the Palace.