The Lagos East Senatorial candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Adeola Adebanjo, has been hospitalised after sustaining a broken leg during an attack on party members in Lagos State.
Adebanjo reportedly suffered the injury while attempting to escape from suspected political thugs who invaded an NDC town hall meeting in the Oregun area of Ikeja.
An iron object allegedly pierced his leg during the chaos, leaving him seriously injured and requiring medical attention.
The incident occurred on Thursday when suspected hoodlums reportedly stormed the venue of the party’s meeting.
The attackers were said to have arrived armed with cutlasses, cudgels and stones before disrupting the gathering and forcing participants to run for safety.
Politics Nigeria reports that the development was confirmed on Friday by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the NDC, Olushile Akinyemi, during an appearance on Breakfast Central, a programme aired on News Central Television.
Akinyemi disclosed that the party’s senatorial candidate was among those affected by the violence.
He expressed concern over the attack and confirmed that Adebanjo was receiving treatment at a hospital.
Speaking during the television interview, he said, “I should put it on record that our senatorial candidate for Lagos East, Adeola, had his leg broken during the mayhem. He is currently in hospital as I speak.”
The party spokesperson also provided details of another attack involving NDC supporters who were travelling to the town hall meeting from Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State.
According to him, the supporters were moving in three vehicles bearing the party’s branding when suspected hoodlums allegedly attacked them around the Opebi area.
Akinyemi said the attackers damaged the vehicles and dispossessed some of the occupants of their personal belongings.
Items reportedly stolen during the incident included mobile phones belonging to members of the opposition party.
He explained that the attack happened before the affected supporters could reach the venue of the town hall meeting, raising further concerns within the party about the safety of its members during political activities in the state.
The NDC spokesperson further disclosed that some of the stolen phones were eventually recovered following the intervention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman in Ikeja Local Government Area.
According to Akinyemi, the APC chairman arrived at the scene in a Sienna bus bearing the ruling party’s insignia.
He reportedly approached the affected NDC members to find out what had happened before taking steps to assist them in recovering their belongings.
He said the intervention eventually produced results, with some members of the opposition party receiving their recovered phones less than an hour after the incident.
Akinyemi expressed surprise at the development, particularly because the phones were recovered through the intervention of a local APC official.
“But the funny thing was that we recovered the phones. The APC chairman in Ikeja Local Government recovered those phones for us,” Akinyemi said.
The incident has raised concerns within the NDC, with the party describing the attack as an attempt to intimidate its members and disrupt its political activities in Lagos State.
Reacting to the development, the NDC National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, condemned the violence and accused the ruling APC of promoting a political atmosphere that threatens democratic participation.
Director described the incident as unfortunate and unwarranted, insisting that political disagreements should not result in physical attacks on opposition members.
In an interview with Saturday PUNCH, he accused the APC of engaging in what he characterised as barbaric political practices.
“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,” he said.
However, the Lagos State chapter of the APC has rejected allegations linking the ruling party to the attack.
The APC had earlier condemned the violence on Thursday, while distancing itself from the actions of the suspected hoodlums.
The Lagos APC State Publicity Secretary, Seye Oladejo, dismissed the allegations against the party as baseless and challenged the NDC to provide credible evidence to security agencies.
Oladejo maintained that the opposition party should submit any evidence linking individuals or members of the APC to the incident rather than make public accusations without establishing responsibility.
