Author: Platform Times Newspaper

Crisis is brewing in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as some leaders from the South-East and South-South have kicked against what they described as a “clandestine” zoning meeting scheduled to hold in Lagos on Thursday. The aggrieved party leaders, including state chairmen, lawmakers and former governors, accused Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri, who chairs the PDP zoning committee, of convening the meeting through the panel’s administrative secretary, Tombra Jumbo, without due consultation with critical stakeholders. Their protest comes barely a week after the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) inaugurated a 44-member zoning panel to allocate key offices ahead of the…

A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Jennifer Elohor Edema, who was brutally assaulted and stripped by operatives of the Agunechemba Vigilante Group in Anambra State, has narrated her harrowing experience and demanded justice. A viral video released on August 19 captured the shocking moment armed vigilantes stormed a corps members’ lodge in Oba, Idemili South Local Government Area, on July 23, accusing the occupants of internet fraud. The video showed Elohor being beaten, stripped, and humiliated by gun-wielding men who ignored their pleas of innocence. In an interview with vlogger Aprokoking, the Delta-born corps member revealed that the operatives,…

Pandemonium broke out on Wednesday at the All Progressives Congress (APC) Delta South women’s meeting in Oleh, Isoko South Local Government Area, following a heated dispute over the alleged hijack of more than N50 million ‘kola-nut’ funds. The money, reportedly donated by politicians and government appointees from the senatorial district to support transportation and refreshment allowances for participants, was said to have been cornered by top women leaders of the party. Trouble started when delegates from the eight local government areas of Delta South demanded accountability and transparency in the disbursement of the funds. Eyewitnesses told PLATFORM TIMES that the…

Terrorists have unleashed a new wave of coordinated attacks on communities in Zamfara State, abducting several residents, looting property, and forcing villagers to flee their homes in fear. The attacks, which residents said occurred between Tuesday and Wednesday, spread across Yan Uku community in Garbadu Ward, Talata Mafara Local Government Area, and extended to nearby villages, including Farin Dutse. Eyewitnesses told PLATFORM TIMES that the terrorists struck on Tuesday night around 8 p.m., whisking away a man identified as Muhammadu Lakada, his son, and a neighbour, Lauwali. His son was later released, but with a chilling instruction to return home…

The Enugu State Police Command has arrested an 18-year-old, identified as Obodoagu Ikediekpere Wisdom, for allegedly kidnapping and murdering his five-year-old cousin after failing to secure a ₦1 million ransom from the child’s family. Police also paraded a 24-year-old accomplice, Sunday Michael, a security guard from Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa State, who was said to have helped the teenager in executing the crime. According to the Command’s spokesperson, SP Daniel Ndukwe, the suspects were arrested on August 11 and 12 by operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Tactical Squad following credible intelligence. “The child was declared missing on July 26,…

The George Uboh Whistleblowers Network (GUWN) has sued the Federal Government, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), and other parties in a bid to halt the planned payment of $396.6 million to Senator Ned Nwoko and his firm, Linas International Limited, over the controversial Paris and London Club refunds. The civil society group, in an originating summons filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday, described the planned disbursement as “unlawful, unjustified and a violation of due process.” Also listed as defendants in the suit are the Federal Ministry of Finance Incorporated, the Minister of Finance, and…

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has blamed incessant national grid collapses on the rising wave of vandalism and illegal structures built under power lines across the country. General Manager of TCN, Benin Region, Charles Iwuamadi, raised the alarm on Tuesday during a sensitisation programme at Umelu community in Benin, Edo State. Iwuamadi explained that vandalism of transmission towers and lines had grown by more than 30 per cent in the last five years, describing it as the leading cause of frequent grid failures. “Vandalism is directly proportional to the number of system collapses. Most times when the national grid…

The embattled Apetu of Ipetumodu in Osun State, Oba Joseph Oloyede, has pleaded with a United States court to temper justice with mercy after admitting guilt in a $4.2 million COVID-19 relief fraud case. In a sentencing memorandum filed before Judge Christopher Boyko of the Northern District of Ohio on Tuesday, August 19, the monarch’s lawyers argued that the coronavirus pandemic pushed him into committing the crime despite his previously untainted record. “COVID-19 affected all of us differently. Conduct that we would never expect from ourselves or others sometimes manifested itself as we encountered a completely different society. COVID-19 is…

Operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) have busted a notorious human trafficking syndicate in Abuja, arresting eight suspects and rescuing 29 foreign victims. The raid, which took place at a popular apartment in Gwagwalada, followed an intelligence tip-off from the Ghanaian Embassy in Nigeria. The victims, mainly young women, were allegedly trafficked from different West African countries for sexual exploitation and cybercrime activities. According to NAPTIP, the syndicate had tricked a Ghanaian national with false promises of job opportunities in Nigeria, defrauded him of $3,500, and confiscated his passport upon arrival in the…

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to sack four federal lawmakers from Osun State for defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC). In four separate suits filed on Wednesday, the party insisted that the lawmakers’ decision to dump the platform on which they were elected amounted to a violation of the 1999 Constitution. The affected lawmakers are Senator Francis Fadahunsi (Osun East), Senator Olubiyi Oluwole Fadeyi (Osun Central), Omirin Olusanya (Atakumosa East/West and Ilesa East/West Federal Constituency), and Taofeek Ajilesoro (Ife Central/East/North and South Federal Constituency). The cases, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1725/2025, FHC/ABJ/CS/1726/2025, FHC/ABJ/CS/1727/2025 and…