Author: Platform Times Newspaper

A Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti has nullified the governorship primary conducted by the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State ahead of the 2026 election, ordering the party to organise a fresh exercise in strict compliance with the law. The court, presided over by Justice Babs Kuewumi, delivered the ruling on Tuesday in a suit marked FHC/AD/CS/29/2025, filed by a governorship aspirant, Funso Ayeni, against the PDP and the Independent National Election Commission. Ayeni had challenged the legitimacy of the primary that produced Dr Wole Oluyede as the party’s candidate, arguing that the PDP failed to present the original…

An Ogun State court on Monday denied bail to controversial singer, Habeeb Okikiola, popularly known as Portable, following his arraignment on multiple criminal charges, including assault, theft and obstruction of police officers. Portable was arraigned before the Federal High Court sitting in Ota, Ogun State, where the prosecution accused him of attacking several individuals, among them a police officer, and stealing a luxury vehicle valued at millions of naira. Confirming the development, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Oluseyi Babaseyi, confirmed it  on Tuesday that the artiste was arrested, arraigned and subsequently remanded in custody. “Yes, he was arraigned…

A Kano State family has accused a medical facility of grave negligence following the death of a woman, Aishatu Umar, who allegedly lived for months with a pair of scissors forgotten inside her body after surgery. Relatives said Aishatu died around 1:00 a.m. on Monday after enduring severe abdominal pain that reportedly began shortly after a surgical procedure carried out in September 2025 at the Abubakar Imam Urology Center in Kano. The case was brought to public attention by a social commentator, Abubakar Mohammed, who identified the deceased as his sister-in-law in a Facebook post. He disclosed that Aishatu is…

The federal government has earmarked N1.096 trillion for capital projects in the 2026 budget, with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) receiving the highest allocation of N502.21 billion According to the proposed budget, the Federal Ministry of Power, led by Chief Adebayo Adelabu, will get N416.748 billion for capital projects. Recurrent expenditures were projected at N10.379 billion, including personnel costs of N6.168 billion and overheads of N4.211 billion, bringing the total ministry allocation to N1.107 trillion. The ministry plans to spend N987.932 million on providing basic amenities for communities affected by projects across 38 resettlement sites, covering schools, solar-powered boreholes, roads,…

…Over 21,000 Asylum Seekers Remain Unregistered Amid Cameroonian influx … Delays Leave Children, Women Vulnerable In Host Communities At least 21,807 refugees and asylum seekers fleeing violence in neighbouring countries remain unregistered in Nigeria, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has revealed. The backlog leaves thousands without access to food, healthcare, and other essential services, UN data shows. The November 2025 UNHCR dashboard, obtained by  The Punch, indicates that the majority of the unregistered refugees are Cameroonians fleeing the eight-year-old Anglophone crisis in North-West and South-West Cameroon. Nigeria currently hosts 127,000 refugees and asylum seekers from 41 countries,…

The Osun State Government has dragged United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) and four of its top executives to court over alleged illegal opening of local government accounts. The case, filed at the Chief Magistrate Court, Osogbo, is slated for hearing on January 30, 2026. The suit, marked Charge No: MOS/601c/2025, names UBA, its Group Managing Director, Oliver Alawuba, the Company Secretary and Group Legal Adviser, Billy Odum, and Deputy Managing Director, Chukwuma Nweke, as defendants. According to the 31-count charge, each count pertains to alleged infractions involving accounts for the state’s 30 local government councils. The prosecution alleges that…

No fewer than three bank mergers are expected to materialise in the coming weeks as Nigerian lenders race to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new minimum capital requirements ahead of the March 31, 2026 recapitalisation deadline. This projection was contained in the 2026 Banking Sector Prospects in Nigeria report released by DataPro, a credit rating and financial analytics firm, which warned that mounting regulatory pressure could accelerate consolidation among smaller lenders. The report noted that by the end of 2025, most tier-1 banks had already surpassed the new capital threshold set by the apex bank, while several others…

Sixty-two former employees of the Central Bank of Nigeria have asked the National Industrial Court of Nigeria sitting in Abuja to dismiss an application by the apex bank seeking to change the procedure of their suit challenging the termination of their appointments. The ex-workers, who were disengaged between February and May 2024, opposed a motion filed by the CBN requesting the court to convert their originating summons to a writ of summons, a move they described as premature and legally untenable. The application, argued by the CBN’s counsel, Mr Wilson Inam, SAN, urged Justice Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae to order a procedural…

A fresh controversy has erupted in Oyo State following a public encounter between the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade, at an interfaith event in Ibadan, reigniting age-long tensions over status and supremacy among Yoruba traditional institutions. The incident occurred on Monday at the 2026 Interfaith Gathering held at the Grand Space, near the Oyo State House of Assembly, and has since sparked intense debate after a video of the moment went viral on social media. In the footage, Oba Ladoja is seen approaching his seat beside the Alaafin, who had arrived…

A judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, Abuja, Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie, on Monday sternly warned an Abuja-based lawyer, Victor Giwa, standing trial over alleged forgery and impersonation, against seeking any private meeting with him outside open court. The warning followed a tense courtroom exchange that stalled proceedings in the ongoing trial of Giwa and his co-defendant, Ibitade Bukola, over allegations of forging official documents and impersonating a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Awa Kalu, with the aim of misleading the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation into withdrawing an earlier criminal charge against Giwa. The case, slated…