Author: Platform Times Newspaper

The Federal Government has confirmed that Nigerian military personnel remain in Burkina Faso days after a Nigerian Air Force aircraft made a forced landing in the West African country. Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, disclosed this while addressing journalists, amid widespread speculation that Burkinabe authorities had detained the officers following the incident. Though reports of their arrest circulated online, the minister neither confirmed nor dismissed the claims, insisting that diplomatic engagement was ongoing. Tuggar said Abuja had opened discussions with Burkina Faso’s junta leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, to ensure a swift resolution of what he described as “a delicate…

The Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, on Thursday died at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa, after collapsing suddenly in his office. PLATFORM TIMES gathered that the incident occurred at about 1:30 p.m., triggering a frantic emergency response as aides and security personnel rushed him to the hospital. Sources at the Government House said the deputy governor slumped during office hours and was immediately taken to the FMC’s emergency unit, where doctors battled unsuccessfully to resuscitate him. He was confirmed dead shortly after arrival. A family source who spoke under anonymity said the news left relatives “devastated”,…

The Nigeria Labour Congress has fixed Thursday, December 17, 2025, for a nationwide protest to demand urgent government action on the country’s worsening insecurity, deepening economic hardship, collapsing tertiary education system and unresolved health sector disputes. The planned mass action was announced after the NLC’s National Executive Council meeting held at the union’s Sub-Secretariat in Yaba, Lagos, on Thursday, December 4. In a communiqué issued after the meeting, the congress said it was “deeply alarmed” by the deteriorating security situation, particularly the rising wave of kidnappings and attacks on schools. It cited the abduction of 24 schoolgirls from a boarding…

Two suspected cattle thieves, 20-year-old Aliyu Umaru and 26-year-old Yusuf Ibrahim, were on Wednesday arraigned before an Ijebu-Ode Magistrates’ Court for allegedly stealing ten cows valued at N26 million from a farm in Ogun State. The defendants were brought before the court on a two-count charge bordering on armed robbery and conspiracy, following a police investigation led by the Ogun State Police Command. According to the charge sheet signed by police prosecutor Solomon Babalola, the offence was committed between June 16 and 17, 2025, when the suspects and others still at large allegedly invaded Tojok Heritage Farm, located behind the…

Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has again dismissed claims that a massacre occurred at the Lekki Tollgate during the October 2020 #EndSARS protests, insisting that widespread descriptions of the incident as a mass killing are “fake news.” Speaking on ARISE Television on Wednesday night, December 10, the former minister reiterated his long-standing position that both local and international reports—especially CNN’s coverage—were not based on firsthand investigation. Mohammed, who served under former President Muhammadu Buhari, maintained that no family has stepped forward in the last five years to report a missing relative linked to the Lekki Tollgate shootings…

The Renewed Hope agenda of the Ogun State Government recorded another major boost on Monday as the state partnered with a non-governmental organisation, Hello International, to launch a Home-Grown School Feeding programme targeted at 1,200 pupils across the three senatorial districts. The initiative, driven through the state’s expanding Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework under Governor Dapo Abiodun, is designed to enhance pupils’ nutrition, improve learning outcomes and reduce hunger-induced absenteeism in public primary schools. Speaking at the launch held at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, the Ogun State First Lady and founder of the Ajose Foundation, Mrs. Bamidele…

A Kano State High Court has sentenced a 30-year-old man, Abdulaziz Adamu, to death by hanging for murdering his employer, Alhaji Ali Alhassan, after abducting him and collecting a N15 million ransom from his family. Justice Amina Adamu Aliyu delivered the judgment on Thursday, convicting Adamu on a three-count charge of conspiracy, kidnapping, and culpable homicide. His co-defendant, Abdullahi Alhassan of Danladi Nasidi Quarters, was however discharged and acquitted for lack of evidence linking him to the killing. According to the prosecution, Adamu, a resident of Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area, abducted the victim on June 16, 2024, in collaboration…

The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Hon. Abayomi Tella, has said that several party members who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been relegated to the background and now “stand as mere onlookers” within the ruling party. Tella stated this while speaking with journalists on Thursday, insisting that most defectors were paying the price for abandoning the PDP’s struggles only to seek refuge in the APC after victory had been secured. According to him, defectors into the APC are “strategically sidelined” because they neither contributed to the party’s foundation nor participated in…

Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has emphatically denied claims that he is under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for terrorism financing or for operating 46 bank accounts. In a statement issued on Wednesday through his Media Assistant, Mohammed Doka, Malami described the allegations as “false, misleading and baseless”, urging Nigerians and media outlets to stop what he called a “media trial” against him. “The Office of the former Attorney-General categorically refutes recent claims circulating in parts of the media regarding terrorism financing, the purported 46 bank accounts linked to…

 Former Anambra State Governor and immediate past Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has been arrested and is currently in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja. The development was confirmed Wednesday night in a statement signed by Ngige’s former media aide, Fred Chukwulobe, who dismissed online rumours that the ex-governor had been kidnapped. “Former Governor of Anambra State and immediate past Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, is with the EFCC. More details will follow,” the statement read. Ngige, a longtime figure in Nigerian politics, had recently made headlines after…