By Henry Umoru & Gift ChapiOdekina

ABUJA- AHEAD  of 2027 general elections, the National Assembly has condemned the wave of political violence across the country.

While the Senate urged the security agents to apprehend whoever was culpable in such acts to serve as deterrent to others, the House of Reps resolved to investigate the attacks.

Speaking with Vanguard, yesterday,  Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu(APC, Ekiti South),  said: “President Bola Tinubu is preaching peace and national harmony, the National Assembly is in support of Mr President on this. 

“We thus condemn in totality any act of political violence and urge the security agents to apprehend whoever is culpable in  such heinous act.”

Meanwhile, the Reps in its resolution, sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by the House Minority Leader, Mr. Fred Agbedi, and 16 other lawmakers, expressed concern over attacks on political meetings, rallies and processions in different parts of the country.

In Katsina State recently, supporters of the All Progressives Congress, APC, travelling for a campaign flag-off in Funtua were reportedly attacked along the Yashi-Funtua route in October.

A female member of the party was injured, vehicles were damaged, and the police subsequently announced 14 arrests.

Also in Calabar, Cross River State, the convoy of the presidential candidate of the NDC, Peter Obi, was attacked on November 4, 2026.

Police confirmed damage to vehicles and announced the arrest of a suspect, while investigations continued.

On November 7, 2026, one person was killed and five others injured during an attack on a political procession and rally organised by supporters of NDC, along Nnebisi Road in Asaba, Delta State.

This came as the National Peace Committee said it recorded 60 election-related incidents within one month, including violence, intimidation and threats.

At yesterday plenary, presenting the motion on behalf of the sponsors, Agbedi condemned acts of violence, intimidation, assault and destruction of property associated with political rallies, meetings, processions and other lawful political activities, irrespective of the political parties or individuals affected.

He appealed to political parties, candidates and their supporters to reject inflammatory rhetoric, discourage violence and cooperate with security agencies in maintaining public peace.

Citing Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the Minority Leader reminded lawmakers that Nigerians were guaranteed the right to assemble freely and associate with others, including the right to form or belong to political parties.

He also drew attention to the constitutional provision which makes the security and welfare of the people the primary purpose of government, stressing the need to protect citizens participating in legitimate political activities.

Agbedi urged the House to invoke Section 88(1) of the Constitution, which empowers the National Assembly to investigate matters within its legislative competence and examine the conduct of public authorities responsible for administering relevant laws.

To illustrate the growing concerns, he cited several incidents of political violence recorded in different states.

He recalled the disruption of political meetings in Enugu State on September 12, 2026, during which the police reportedly confirmed that two attendees were injured, while one person was allegedly killed.

In Nasarawa State, Agbedi recalled the attack on an APC rally in Lafia on November 4, 2026, where several people were reportedly injured.

The lawmaker warned that continued attacks, intimidation and destruction of property linked to political activities can result in further loss of lives and injuries.

He expressed concern that the growing atmosphere of fear can discourage citizens from participating in lawful political activities and undermine public confidence in the electoral process.

Agbedi, however, emphasised that allegations of responsibility for the incidents must be established through impartial, thorough and evidence-based investigations.

The House’s intervention comes as political activities gather momentum ahead of the 2027 general elections, with lawmakers seeking to establish the circumstances surrounding the reported attacks and identify measures to prevent further violence.

The House subsequently constituted an ad-hoc committee headed by the Leader of the House, Julius Ihonvbere, to investigate the immediate and remote causes of politically motivated violence and report its findings within three weeks.

The committee comprises the House Leader, Minority Leader, chairmen and deputy chairmen of the House Committees on Police Affairs and National Security and Intelligence, as well as two additional members drawn from the committees.

We’ll  support the process, stakeholders, empower them -EU

Meanwhile, the European Union, EU, has said it would continue to support Nigeria’s electoral process, the stakeholders, empower them.

It noted that imposing sanctions on political stakeholders over electoral violence reported in some parts of Nigeria ahead of the 2027 general elections was not its responsibility.

The EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, while on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, yesterday, said: “I was listening to that, and I was thinking: what kind of conception of Nigerian sovereignty is that if you expect from an international partner to sanction, give punishments, give good marks, bad marks to your political and institutional stakeholders? This is not our role.

“Our role is to support the process, support the stakeholders, empower them, and this is what we are doing. This event where we spoke about political violence was organised by the National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday, in Abuja with EU support, precisely to give a platform where these issues can be showcased and discussed, and with recommendations that were issued by the participants.

“We are here to support Nigerian stakeholders, not to take their place or tell them what to do.”

He said the EU was empowering civil society to deploy 5,500 observers during the elections.

“A couple of weeks ago, we had an event with Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, with civil society on a simulation of incidents of misinformation, especially through artificial intelligence, to see how stakeholders will react.

“So, we are here to support the Nigerian stakeholders, not to take their place or to tell them what to do. This is our role as international partners, as we see it,” he added.

He explained that expecting sanctions like the ones placed on Russia for its war in Ukraine would be “too high expectations or wrong expectations”.

“Why are we sanctioning Russia? Why are we not sanctioning this or that individual in this or that state because he or she made an inflammatory speech?

“I mean, clearly you can see it’s not the same scale. It’s not in one case, it’s just internal to Nigeria. In other cases, it’s an attack against another country and against Europe itself.

“This is the kind of cases where we use sanctions, not to sanction individuals in almost 200 countries of the world wherever someone is misbehaving, according to democratic standards. We can’t do that. This is not our role.

“So, I think that this has to be understood because sometimes I think there are too high expectations or wrong expectations towards the EU and other partners. Our role is to support the process, is to also give advice, give recommendations.”

Vanguard News