Thugs Hit Obi Town Hall; Cops Fire Shots, Parties Duck

Men armed with cutlasses, cudgels and stones stormed a town hall meeting at Classic Event Place in Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, sending people running and leaving chairs scattered across the hall. They reportedly came in from Kudirat Abiola Way at about 11:00 a.m., trying to force their way inside while supporters of the Nigeria Democratic Congress waited for presidential candidate Peter Obi.

The people in the room didn't wait for anyone to save them.

What People Actually Did

Some supporters resisted the attackers and stopped them from taking over the venue. The crowd caught one suspected assailant. Others reportedly fled. Funso Doherty, the NDC's Lagos governorship candidate, told Channels Television's 'Politics Today' what he saw. "As people were gathering for the town hall, the venue was invaded by some people, whom you could call thugs or miscreants, who unleashed violence in an attempt to disrupt the preparations for the event," he said. "They damaged vehicles and injured some people, but the attendees were determined to host their presidential candidate. They resisted the attack, forcing the thugs to retreat from the venue."

Doherty said the attackers expected an easy ride. "They would come in and do what they might normally do, scatter things and people would run away. But people were not in that frame of mind," he said. The meeting went ahead once police arrived.

Who Has the Power

The fight spilled onto Kudirat Abiola Way, where motorists made U-turns and pedestrians hurried off. Police reportedly fired shots into the air to disperse the crowd. Some participants were injured. How many, and how badly, remains unestablished.

The police arrested a suspect identified only as Ibrahim. A viral video showed him with his hands and legs tied inside a patrol vehicle. "I came to beg for money," he said, denying he carried cutlasses or was recruited. NDC supporters allege he and others arrived with cutlasses, stones, bottles and sticks, damaged vehicles and fired gunshots. No independent evidence links the attackers to any political party.

A police source then pointed at the victims. The NDC, he said, hadn't submitted a notification letter for the meeting, unlike the team of Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, which reportedly filed one before a recent Lagos engagement. Permission slips for gathering, then, and the people who gathered get the lecture. Police spokesperson Abimbola Adebisi said officers were still on the field and had yet to submit a report. "When they arrive and give us the information, we will update the media," she said.

The Blame Game and the Committee

The NDC's National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, asked on X: "Why is APC afraid of Peter Obi?" The Lagos APC called the allegations reckless, baseless and irresponsible. Spokesman Mogaji Seye Oladejo said the party's whole Lagos machinery was in Epe that day for the flag-off of its 2027 campaign. He told the NDC to take evidence to security agencies instead of social media, and urged those agencies to investigate what he called increasingly bellicose opposition rhetoric.

The APC Presidential Campaign Council, in a statement signed by iDele Alake, condemned the disruption and called on security agencies "to be more responsive and alert in preventing political violence of any type."

The House of Representatives answered with a committee. An ad hoc panel will investigate political violence, chaired by the Majority Leader, with the Minority Leader as deputy, and it has two weeks to report. The motion, sponsored by Minority Leader Fred Agbedi, Bamidele Salam and 15 other lawmakers, cited attacks in Enugu, Katsina, Nasarawa, Delta and Cross River.

The pattern runs long. In September 2025, thugs disrupted an ADC rally at Lion Field, Alimosho, Lagos. In February 2026, hoodlums invaded the ADC secretariat in Benin City. A month later, a Cross River secretariat launch was wrecked, and armed men reportedly set a ward secretariat ablaze in Rivers State in March. On November 4, Obi's convoy reportedly came under attack in Calabar. Three days later, an NDC march in Asaba was disrupted by hoodlums wielding dangerous weapons.

The Foreign Referee Shrugs

The European Union's ambassador, Gautier Mignot, said sanctioning Nigerian political stakeholders isn't the EU's role. Its job, he said, is to support the electoral process, including 5,500 observers for 2027. The Centre for Democracy and Development warned of an escalating pattern of violence and intimidation.

Obi, speaking at the hall, brought one of the injured to the podium. He told the crowd that Nigerians must be able to participate freely. The NDC statement put it plainly: "Nigeria is not a conquered territory, and political participation is not a crime."