"Cutlasses at 11AM!" — Thugs Storm Peter Obi’s Lagos Town Hall, Chairs Fly, Police Fire Shots as NDC Supporters Fight Back

Abdulhameed Sherif · Politics · Nov 12, 2026

The 2027 campaign season has turned bloody—or nearly so. On Thursday morning, armed hoodlums wielding cutlasses, cudgels, and stones stormed the Nigeria Democratic Congress town hall venue in Oregun, Lagos, sending Peter Obi’s supporters scrambling for their lives.

The attack unfolded at Classic Event Place on Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun, at about 11 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, 2026, just as supporters of Peter Obi and his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, were singing and dancing in anticipation of the town hall meeting. According to multiple eyewitness accounts, the hoodlums approached the venue from Kudirat Abiola Way and attempted to force their way into the main hall, where they were initially resisted by NDC supporters before the confrontation escalated.

A Tribune correspondent who was outside the venue overheard the attackers speaking in Yoruba, saying the NDC supporters were “few and could easily be overpowered.” Some of the thugs were also heard asking their superiors for permission to invade the venue with firearms—a detail that suggests the attack was planned and coordinated, not spontaneous.

The pandemonium that followed was total. Participants ran in different directions, chairs and furniture were overturned, and motorists on Kudirat Abiola Way made U-turns or took alternative routes as pedestrians fled. But the NDC supporters did not simply scatter. Some confronted the attackers, throwing chairs to repel the invasion, and supporters dressed in blue shirts and white fez caps chased the thugs out of the hall, catching one of them in the car park and striking him repeatedly with sticks. Police officers eventually fired shots into the air to disperse the crowd and restore order.

As of Thursday afternoon, the identities of the attackers and their political affiliations had not been established, and it remained unclear whether anyone had been seriously injured or how many arrests had been made. However, Daily Post later reported that one of the suspected thugs had been apprehended.

The attack is the latest in a troubling pattern of violence targeting the NDC and Peter Obi’s campaign activities ahead of the 2027 general election. On November 4, Obi’s convoy was ambushed near Watt Market in Calabar, Cross River State, with thugs throwing stones, bottles, and other dangerous objects at vehicles and supporters; Obi later recounted that his security team advised him to take another route after the attackers armed themselves with machetes. In September, suspected thugs disrupted an NDC campaign rally in Warri, Delta State, and armed hoodlums invaded an NDC ward meeting in Obuoffia, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, firing sporadically and injuring attendees. Obi’s planned humanitarian visit to Yelwata, Benue State, to meet families of victims of the June 2025 massacre was also obstructed in September when youths blocked his convoy.

The Oregun attack has already drawn condemnation. Nigerian businessman Isaac Fayose described the violence as “evil,” adding his voice to a growing chorus of critics who say the NDC is being systematically targeted. The incident also adds to mounting concerns over electoral violence raised by Obi and the NDC, concerns that now appear chillingly prescient.

For the people of Oregun, Thursday morning was a reminder that in Nigeria’s political arena, even a town hall meeting can turn into a battleground. For Peter Obi’s campaign, it was the latest test of whether the NDC can mobilise voters in Lagos—the state where Obi polled 582,454 votes in 2023, defeating the APC and every other party—without its supporters being chased away by cutlass-wielding thugs. The question now is whether the police will investigate the attack with the same urgency they have promised in previous incidents, and whether the 2027 campaign will be defined by ideas or by the blades of those determined to silence them.