Author: Platform Times Newspaper

… Says Front-Page Coverage Fuels Fear … Urges Shift To Highlight Security Gains Daud Olatunji The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has urged Nigerian media organisations to scale down the prominence given to terrorists and criminal elements in news reports, warning that such coverage inadvertently advances their agenda. Speaking at a security summit organised by the Nigerian Union of Journalists in collaboration with the State Security Service, the minister said excessive publicity fuels fear and gives violent groups the attention they seek. “Please take these terrorists and criminals off your front pages. This is what they crave…

The Abeokuta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ABEOCCIMA) on Thursday marked its 50th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Golden Jubilee celebration with a strong call for businesses to embrace innovation, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital transformation as tools for competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving global economy. The historic event, held in  Abeokuta, also featured the inauguration of a new Executive Committee and Council of the Chamber, drawing government officials, private sector leaders, and stakeholders across Nigeria’s business ecosystem. ‘Fifty Years of Resilience, Enterprise and Collective Progress’ — ABEOCCIMA President In his welcome address, the President of ABEOCCIMA,…

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (Peoples Democratic Party) in the forthcoming Ekiti State election, Wole Oluyede, has raised serious concerns over the conduct of security agencies, alleging partiality and selective enforcement of the law ahead of the poll. Oluyede, who spoke during an interview on Channels Television (Channels Television) programme, Politics Today, on Thursday, expressed apprehension over what he described as increasing evidence of bias by the police in Ekiti State. He alleged that several of his supporters had been arrested under unclear circumstances, while individuals allegedly linked to the ruling All Progressives Congress were not subjected…

A Zamfara State woman, identified simply as Aisha, has recounted a harrowing ordeal in which armed bandits allegedly forced her to bury her own children after they were killed during months of captivity in the forest. Aisha, who survived after spending about six months in kidnappers’ den, said she was abducted alongside her three children while travelling in a commercial vehicle in Zamfara State when armed men ambushed them and opened fire, forcing the vehicle to a halt. According to her account in an interview with DW Hausa, she and other passengers were taken into the forest after the attack.…

The Federal Government has commenced urgent evacuation of Nigerians stranded in South Africa following renewed xenophobic attacks, with no fewer than 742 citizens expected to be airlifted home before June 30, 2026. The evacuation, confirmed on Thursday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, comes amid rising tension and reported assaults targeting foreign nationals in parts of South Africa. Odumegwu-Ojukwu, in a statement issued by her Special Assistant on Communication and New Media, Magnus Eze, assured that the Tinubu administration would not abandon any Nigerian who has voluntarily chosen to return home due to safety concerns. According to…

Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal, has ruled out any form of negotiation with armed groups terrorising the state, insisting that his administration will continue to confront banditry through sustained security operations. Lawal made the position known on Thursday while reacting to ongoing insecurity concerns and renewed calls by some stakeholders for dialogue with bandits as a pathway to peace. The governor maintained that engaging criminal groups in negotiations would amount to legitimising violence and weakening state authority, stressing that government must not appear inferior to non-state actors. “I do not accept that terrorists are stronger than the government. Therefore,…

A major political shake-up hit Ogun State on Thursday as a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Chairman of the Egba Agenda Forum, High Chief Mustapha Abdulhakeem O. (MAO), defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), mobilising over 8,000 supporters in a move that further reshaped early alignments ahead of the 2027 governorship election. MAO, a former House of Assembly aspirant for Constituency 1 and former coordinator of Governor Dapo Abiodun’s 2023 re-election campaign, made the declaration at the 2026 Egba Agenda Convention, where he formally announced his exit from the APC and pitched his political structure behind…

The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Adewole Adebayo, has alleged that President Bola Tinubu admitted to political leaders that he could not guarantee a free and fair election while seeking re-election in 2027. Adebayo made the claim during an interview on Channels Television on Wednesday, raising fresh concerns over the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral process ahead of the next general elections. According to him, the President made the remarks during an Iftar meeting in Abuja attended by members of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, the ruling All Progressives Congress, and other stakeholders. He alleged that Tinubu, when confronted by…

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday sentenced three persons to death by hanging for terrorism-related offences, while others received life imprisonment and long jail terms in the ongoing mass trial of terror suspects. The convicts — Danladi Lawal, Abdullahi Mohammed and Mohammed Gulama Shaibu — were handed capital punishment after pleading guilty to charges filed against them by the Federal Government. Justice James Omotosho sentenced Lawal, also known as Dankawu, to death by hanging on one of the five counts preferred against him. The judge also imposed 30 years’ imprisonment on count one, 15 years on count…

Former Governor of Osun State and National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress, Rauf Aregbesola, on Thursday called on voters in Ekiti State to use the forthcoming governorship election to “rescue” Nigeria from what he described as failing leadership. Aregbesola made the appeal during the party’s grand finale rally held in Ado-Ekiti ahead of the June 20 governorship poll, warning that the country had “entered one chance” and required urgent redirection through the ballot. Addressing party supporters, the former minister decried worsening economic hardship and governance challenges, insisting that citizens must take responsibility for shaping the nation’s future by voting…