Author: Platform Times Newspaper

The Ogun I Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has intercepted contraband items with a Duty Paid Value of N6.77bn in a sweeping anti-smuggling operation across the state’s border corridors. The Acting Customs Area Controller, Deputy Comptroller Olukayode Afeni, disclosed this on Tuesday during a press briefing at Idiroko, Ogun State, noting that the seizures were recorded within a five-week period between March 16 and May 12, 2026. Afeni said the operation, driven by enhanced intelligence and inter-agency collaboration, led to 73 interceptions involving large quantities of cannabis, foreign rice, vegetable oil, petroleum products and other prohibited goods. He…

The Ogun State High Court sitting in Ota, on Tuesday, nullified the installation of the Oniro of Iro, Oba Najeem Aromaye, ordering him to vacate the throne 13 years after his emergence. The presiding judge, Justice O.O. Osunfisan, in a judgment delivered in Suit No: AB/292/2013, held that Aromaye’s nomination, appointment and installation were unlawful, illegal and contrary to the approved chieftaincy declaration guiding the stool. The court subsequently set aside his appointment and awarded N1m as cost against the defendants. PLATFORM TIMES reports that the suit was instituted by late Prince Adeleke Joseph Oniyide Adebari and Prince Kamoru Akindele…

The rising wave of insecurity in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, came into sharp focus on Monday after suspected bandits invaded a residential estate and abducted three persons. The assailants, said to be over 15 in number, stormed Ipojo Golden Estate in the Oke-Eri area of the town around 7pm, catching residents unawares. Eyewitnesses disclosed that the attackers, armed with sophisticated weapons, forcefully gained entry into a residence, ransacked the building and whisked away two women and a man. PLATFORM TIMES reports that during the operation, the gunmen reportedly shot a woman while retreating into a nearby forest, heightening panic across…

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has raised fresh concerns over what it described as the “distorted and uncoordinated” implementation of its December 2025 agreement with the Federal Government, warning that mounting frustration among lecturers could trigger another round of industrial crisis in the nation’s universities. The union, in a communiqué issued at the end of its National Executive Council meeting held at Modibbo Adama University, accused both federal and state authorities of failing to honour key components of the agreement, barely months after its public unveiling in January 2026. ASUU President, Christopher Piwuna, said the initial optimism that…

…Govs, Lawmakers Clash Over Control Of 188 Return Bids …Tinubu-Backed Plan Sparks Fresh Power Struggle Ahead 2027 Daud Olatunji Fresh tension is brewing within the ruling All Progressives Congress (AlPC) as governors and federal lawmakers clash over moves to secure automatic return tickets for 188 serving members of the National Assembly ahead of the 2027 general elections. Party insiders said the development has triggered a quiet but growing power struggle in some APC-controlled states, including Ogun, Ondo and Benue, where state governors are reportedly at odds with influential lawmakers over control of nomination processes. Findings indicate that the arrangement, if…

The National Emergency Management Agency and the International Organization for Migration on Monday received 170 stranded Nigerians repatriated from Libya under the Assisted Voluntary Return Programme. The returnees arrived at the Cargo Terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, around 3:36 p.m. aboard an Air Buraq Airlines flight from Tripoli. Speaking with journalists, the Head of NEMA Lagos Operations Office, Mohammed Olatunde, said the exercise was conducted in collaboration with the National Commission for Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons. He explained that the initiative, supported by the Federal Government and IOM, was aimed at ensuring the safe, dignified…

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that no fewer than 190 persons have died from Lassa fever in 2026, raising fresh concerns over the rising fatality rate of the disease across the country. In its latest situation report for Epidemiological Week 17 (April 20–26, 2026), the agency disclosed that the case fatality rate climbed to 25.2 per cent, a sharp increase from the 19.1 per cent recorded within the same period in 2025. The report, however, indicated a decline in newly confirmed infections, with cases dropping from 29 in Week 16 to nine in Week 17.…

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Monday honoured one of its staff members, Gbenga Adebayo, who risked his life to deliver ransom to kidnappers to secure the release of abducted colleagues. Adebayo, a senior driver with the board, was recognised for what the Registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, described as an extraordinary act of courage during a kidnapping incident involving JAMB staff. The recognition came during the board’s annual policy meeting on admissions, attended by heads of tertiary institutions and chaired by the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa. Oloyede disclosed that Adebayo volunteered to deliver ransom after others declined due to…

A Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sani Abdulkadir, on Monday told the Federal High Court in Abuja that he received money to offer prayers for an alleged coup plot but warned those involved that the plan would ultimately fail. Abdulkadir, the sixth defendant in the ongoing trial of six suspects accused of plotting to overthrow the government of President Bola Tinubu, made the disclosure in a video recording played during the resumed hearing. In the footage, the cleric said he was approached through an intermediary, identified as Sanda, who informed him that his principal intended to stage a coup and required spiritual…

The internal crisis rocking the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress deepened on Monday after the party’s screening committee disqualified dozens of aspirants believed to be loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara, while clearing candidates aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, ahead of the 2027 State House of Assembly primaries. The development has heightened political tension within the ruling party, with stakeholders warning that the outcome of the screening exercise could worsen divisions ahead of the general elections. A report of the screening committee, obtained on Monday, showed that former factional Speaker of the…