Unfortunately, what other states celebrate and honour, we now appear determined to destroy and dehumanise in Edo State. This version of Edo is unfamiliar and deeply unsettling to many of us.
Violence against outsiders has never been our way in Edo, let alone violence turned inward against our own people. Our history, culture, and values are anchored in dignity, order, and respect for human worth. To witness those principles eroded so casually is both painful and alarming.
If this behaviour becomes normalised, we risk losing not only our moral compass but the very identity that once distinguished Edo as a people of honour and restraint. What happened should trouble every Edo son and daughter, because a society that humiliates its own achievers is already in quiet decline.
It is important to remind ourselves who the victim in this matter is. **Don Pedro Obaseki** is not an ordinary citizen. He is a distinguished filmmaker of international standing, a pride of Edo State, and one of the foundational figures of Nigeria’s film industry now globally known as Nollywood. Long before Nollywood became a household name, Dr Obaseki was already shaping its vision, structure, and artistic depth.
A poet of rare sensitivity and intellect, he has devoted over thirty five years of his life to the creative arts, using film and literature as tools for cultural preservation, social reflection, and national storytelling. Across decades, he has mentored, trained, and inspired generations of actors, directors, and producers who today define the success and global reach of Nollywood. Many of the celebrated figures in the industry stand on the shoulders of his pioneering work, discipline, and intellectual rigour.
The alleged offence in this case was that he greeted with the phrase “Long Live Edo” rather than “Long live the Oba of Benin.” To my mind, this is a pedestrian justification for violence and a dangerous trend in the state. It reflects a troubling reality in which some individuals have appointed themselves the so called police of the Oba of Benin, arrogating to themselves the authority to interpret and enforce traditional law according to their own narrow and self serving understanding.
Only recently, at the opening ceremony of the Museum of West African Art in Benin City, guests including foreign dignitaries, diplomatic officials, and journalists were harassed and driven out of the venue. The perpetrators were known thugs within Benin City, individuals who are familiar faces and who have again been seen in the attack on Don Pedro.
If the state government and the security agencies are unable or unwilling to arrest and prosecute these known elements, then it suggests that Edo State is gradually drifting towards anarchy. This is deeply damaging to the state’s image and wholly unacceptable. The government of the day must rise to its responsibility, assert control over security, protect lives and human dignity, and ensure that citizens’ rights and freedoms of expression are not merely spoken of, but actively respected and guaranteed.
Anything less is a betrayal of the values Edo people hold dear.
Deacon Ambassador Darlington Okpebholo Ray writes from Greenwich, London.
