Human rights lawyer and activist Frank Tietie has described the assault on renowned academic and cultural icon Don Pedro Obaseki as a national disgrace, warning that the incident has placed Nigeria, the Benin people and the country’s human rights record “on trial before the world”.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE News on Monday, Tietie said the attack — in which Obaseki was beaten, stripped and paraded through parts of Benin City — represented a dangerous collapse of respect for human dignity, rule of law and democratic values.
“I think it was shocking, and many people across the world haven’t actually recovered from the shock,” Tietie said. “Don Pedro is not an ordinary person. I don’t know anybody who has promoted the Benin culture or respectfully adored people more than Don Pedro Obaseki.”
Tietie said the assault validated Obaseki’s own long-held warning that “the worst of us can actually do harm to the best of us,” adding that the trauma of the incident would take time to overcome.
“The shock is something that would require some therapy to recover from,” he said.
Addressing claims that the assault was carried out in defence of tradition or the authority of the Oba of Benin, Tietie said accountability must follow the conclusion of police investigations, particularly as the attackers allegedly acted in the name of the Benin Traditional Council.
“When you raise the issue of who is to be held accountable, after the investigation, we will know who is actually responsible,” he said. “The people that assaulted him said — and it is on record — that they were doing it in the name of the Benin Traditional Council, particularly in the name of the Oba of Benin.”
He warned that the incident reflected a disturbing decline in civic values in a city once known for intellectual and liberal thought.
“We are looking at a degradation of the state of affairs in an enclave, in a city that once was the bastion of intellectual, liberal growth,” Tietie said. “This is Benin City, host of the University of Benin, from which Don Pedro graduated as a first-class student, earned a PhD, and went on to distinguish himself nationally.”
Tietie condemned the public humiliation of Obaseki, describing it as both barbaric and indefensible.
“To think that they gave him that kind of treatment — not by ordinary street urchins but by touts — is humiliating,” he said. “Some of us are very thankful to God that they didn’t kill him. They could have killed him.”
He added: “You are making Don Pedro Obaseki kneel, crawl, and beg for his life — one of the founding fathers of Nollywood, one of the very best we can showcase to our youth. And some people are happy?”
Rejecting the argument that tradition justified the assault, Tietie said traditional authority has no legal power to sanction violence.
“What kind of tradition is that?” he asked. “A traditional ruler is utterly and wholly powerless in the legal system of Nigeria. He cannot preside over anything. Respect for tradition is a matter of consent.”
Tietie also described the incident as evidence of deep societal regression.
“This is happening in 2025, in a democracy, Africa’s largest democracy that practises the rule of law,” he said. “They beat him, stripped him naked, made him trek five kilometres. What we used to see in the old days — name and shame.”
He lamented the failure of institutions to intervene.
“Nobody could say you are violating the rights of an individual. Nobody could say this is a Benin son, you can’t do this to him. The police couldn’t prevent it. That is a state of anomie,” he said.
On the question of justice, Tietie said the matter went far beyond the victim himself.
“It is not about Don Pedro. It is Benin City, the Benin people that are on trial. It is Nigeria that is currently on trial,” he said. “The whole world is aghast, wondering how you would treat a professor like that.”
He called on the Nigerian government, the National Human Rights Commission and the Benin Traditional Council to act decisively.
“There is no evidence to say that the Oba of Benin directed it,” he said. “But the burden now falls on the Benin Traditional Council to clearly distance itself. A statement from the palace is important.”
Tietie warned that failure to uphold human rights would endanger everyone.
“If we don’t improve our respect for human dignity, you might just be the next person,” he said. “This cannot work in a democracy.”
Responding to claims that Obaseki was punished for allegedly failing to acknowledge the supremacy of the Oba of Benin during a speech in London, Tietie said Nigeria had long moved beyond traditions that violated human rights.
“We used to be a country that practised human sacrifices,” he said. “But we decided to be a republic governed by law. At that point, every other tradition becomes subsumed under the legal system.”
He added: “Freedom of speech is being utterly abused when respectable persons say that because someone is Benin, nobody should talk about anything concerning a ruler. That is in total violation of the Constitution.”
Tietie concluded that the assault had damaged not only the image of Benin but Nigeria as a whole.
“This is not Don Pedro that is the victim. It is Nigeria,” he said. “What has happened is a descent into crisis, ignominy and utter disgrace to what used to be a glorious kingdom.”
Boluwatife Enome
Follow us on:
