The Nigeria Democratic Congress and the All Progressives Congress have exchanged accusations following an attack on NDC supporters at a town hall meeting in Ikeja, Lagos State.
The opposition party accused the ruling APC of encouraging political violence and attempting to intimidate its members, while the APC denied any involvement and advised the NDC to resolve its internal challenges.
The incident occurred on Thursday when suspected political thugs, reportedly armed with cutlasses, sticks and stones, invaded the venue of the NDC gathering, disrupted proceedings and forced participants to flee.
Some NDC supporters reportedly resisted the attackers by throwing chairs at them, while others chased the fleeing hoodlums and apprehended one suspect at a nearby car park.
A video of the incident showed some young men surrounding the arrested suspect and assaulting him with sticks.
The violence later spread to Kudirat Abiola Way, disrupting traffic, as police officers reportedly fired shots into the air to disperse the crowd.
Reacting, the NDC National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, described the attack as unfortunate and accused the APC of promoting what he called barbaric politics.
He said, “The attacks perpetrated against our members in Lagos State are unfortunate and unwarranted.
“The hard-earned, ruinous APC is planning to destroy our hard-earned democracy by their desperation and demonic politics of barbarism.”
Similarly, the spokesperson for the NDC Campaign Council, Dr Constance Ikokwu, condemned the incident, describing it as an attack on democratic principles and citizens’ constitutional rights.
She said, “We strongly condemn the reported violent attack on its supporters in Lagos by suspected political thugs.
“This is an unacceptable assault on democracy, citizens’ fundamental rights and the freedom of political association. No political party or group has a monopoly on Nigeria, and no one has the right to use violence, intimidation or thuggery to silence opposing voices.”
Ikokwu called for an immediate investigation into the incident and the arrest and prosecution of those responsible.
She added that the party would not be discouraged from participating in the 2027 general elections despite the alleged intimidation.
However, a former Lagos APC spokesperson, Seye Oladejo, dismissed the allegation of his party’s involvement, insisting that the ruling party was occupied with its campaign activities in Epe on the day of the attack.
Oladejo said the APC had no reason to disrupt the NDC meeting, adding that the opposition party should examine its internal affairs rather than blame the ruling party.
He said, “The first thing to note is that this allegation is coming on a day we are formally having our campaign in Epe. And Epe is very far away from Ikeja.
“So, we are too busy to be distracted. The APC and the NDC are not the only parties in the elections. And we are the biggest stakeholders in this Lagos and, in fact, Nigeria.”
He further challenged the NDC to provide evidence linking the APC to the attack.
“There is nothing to prove that the APC is involved in this. So, they should look inward at the enemies within their party,” he added.
As of the time of filing this report, the identities of the attackers, their alleged sponsors and the circumstances surrounding the violence had yet to be independently established.
