Author: Platform Times Newspaper

Political economist, Professor Pat Utomi, has vowed that the recent Federal High Court ruling restraining him from forming a shadow cabinet will not silence his voice or stop him from associating with fellow Nigerians. Justice James Omotosho had on Monday declared that the concept of a shadow government was unconstitutional and alien to Nigeria’s presidential system, stressing that the 1999 Constitution makes no provision for any “parallel or alternative government” outside the one it establishes. But Utomi, in a reaction on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm, insisted that the judgment would not stop him from exercising his civic rights. “As a…

The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, has launched fresh allegations against the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, claiming the monarch conspired with his former Canadian wife to assassinate him. In a video posted on his official Facebook page, Emperor Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi Telu I, on Tuesday, the Iwo monarch accused Ooni of orchestrating a plot to silence him because of his role in the enthronement of the current Ooni of Ife years ago. “People hear me talking about Ooni Adeyeye. What you don’t know, I will tell you today. I helped Ooni Adeyeye. But because he…

A 63-year-old cleric, Pastor Luke Eze, has been remanded in a correctional facility in Enugu State for allegedly drugging and raping two sisters, aged 16 and 19, under the guise of conducting a deliverance session. The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, who confirmed the incident in a statement on Tuesday, said the suspect was arrested on September 11, 2025, by operatives of the Iwollo Police Division after the victims’ parents reported the case. According to Ndukwe, investigations revealed that on September 7, the cleric lured the 16-year-old girl to his church, City of Hope Ministry, also known…

… Deceased Allegedly Chased Into River By Local Security Operatives … Govt Suspends Two Principals, Says Victim Not In School Database Daud Olatunji Pandemonium broke out on Monday in the Elega area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, as students of Ilugun High School (Junior) went on rampage, pelting their teachers with stones and destroying school property following the death of a colleague allegedly chased to his death by local security operatives. PLATFORM TIMES gathered that the deceased, identified as Babalola, drowned in a river behind the school last Friday while being pursued by members of a local security outfit, reportedly invited…

The chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has accused the majority of Nigeria’s tax consultants of thriving on tax evasion, describing their activities as criminal and detrimental to the nation’s economic growth. Oyedele, in a viral video currently circulating online, alleged that about 90 per cent of tax consultants in the country—including lawyers, accountants, and practitioners—make their living from helping clients evade lawful taxes. “That’s what they do for a living. The vast majority of them, 90 per cent of them, are selling tax evasion,” Oyedele declared. He explained that many consultants deliberately…

The United States has accused the Nigerian government of re-trafficking women and girls by forcibly returning them to Boko Haram “husbands” and other traffickers, in spite of official claims of combating modern slavery and sexual exploitation. In its 2025 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, released on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of State faulted Nigeria’s victim protection measures, noting that women and girls rescued from insurgents in the North-East were often treated as criminals rather than survivors of sexual slavery. “In some cases, authorities detained or returned victims to their Boko Haram husbands and traffickers,” the report stated, warning that insufficient…

The Federal Government has declared that income earned by commercial sex workers will henceforth be subject to taxation under Nigeria’s new tax reforms scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026. Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, said the tax laws do not distinguish between legal and illegal income but are focused on whether money is earned from goods or services. “There is this extreme example… if somebody is doing runs, they go and look for men to sleep with. You know that is a service, they will pay tax on it,” Oyedele…

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dissociated itself from a statement credited to former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana, suggesting that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan would contest the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the party. Gana had reportedly declared that Jonathan was returning to the political scene to challenge and defeat President Bola Tinubu in 2027, saying: “I can confirm that Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will contest the presidential election in 2027 as PDP candidate, and you will vote for him to return as president again.” However, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, while addressing journalists in Abuja on…

A former President of the  Nigeria Computer Society, Prof. A. S. Sodiya, has rejected his disqualification from contesting in the forthcoming 2025 elections of the Computer Professionals (Registration Council of Nigeria), CPN , describing the action as illegal, undemocratic, and a ploy to impose a preferred candidate. Sodiya, in a protest letter addressed to the Council’s President and Chairman, Mr. Kole Jagun, and obtained by PLATFORM TIMES in Abeokuta, faulted the grounds of his exclusion, saying it was based on “untenable and selfish reasons.” He explained that the Council barred him from contesting on the excuse that, as the immediate…

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has announced that its application portal for the 2024/2025 academic session will close on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, as it transitions to a fresh cycle of operations for the 2025/2026 academic year. The closure marks the end of the second full cycle of the interest-free student loan scheme, which has continued to ease financial burdens for Nigerian undergraduates since its inception. In a statement signed by its Director of Strategic Communications, Mrs. Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, NELFUND disclosed that the new application window would open in the second week of October 2025 and run until January…