Author: Platform Times Newspaper

Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has revealed that over 300,000 repentant Boko Haram insurgents and their families have surrendered to the state government within the last four years. Speaking during a televised interview on News Central, the governor described the mass surrender as a major milestone in the state’s counterinsurgency efforts, attributing the development to a blend of military operations and non-kinetic strategies, including dialogue and reintegration programmes. “Since the last three to four years, we have received nothing fewer than 300,000 repentant Boko Haram members and their families,” Zulum said. “That is a very huge success.” The…

Hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Yelwata community in Benue State on Thursday barricaded a major road in Makurdi to protest worsening hunger, neglect, and alleged diversion of relief materials meant for their survival. The demonstrators, comprising mostly women and children, blocked the busy route near Makurdi International Market, bringing vehicular movement to a standstill for hours. They carried placards with distressing messages such as “We are dying of hunger”, “No food, no water, no medicine”, and “Our children sleep on bare floors.” Eyewitnesses said the protest began around 8am and quickly drew attention from motorists, traders, and passersby,…

Super Eagles forward and Napoli star, Victor Osimhen, has shared a moving story about his difficult childhood, revealing that he once washed gutters for as little as N30 to survive. Osimhen made the disclosure in a recent interview with media personality Daddy Freeze, recounting the extreme hardships he faced before rising to global football stardom. “There was a building in front of my house—one of those face-me-I-face-you structures,” he said. “I used to fetch water for people living there for N80, and most of the time, I would wash their gutters when the green things (algae) were coming out. I…

The House on The Rock Church has faulted the Nigeria Police over the detention of its Senior Pastor, Paul Adefarasin, and the description of a self-defense device found in his possession as “illegal.” This comes after the clergyman was reportedly held for several hours by the police on Tuesday in connection with a viral video that showed him pointing a device at a car spotter, whom he later described as an “aggressive content creator.” In a statement released on Wednesday, the church criticised the police for what it called an “inaccurate and misleading” classification of the device, stating that Adefarasin…

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olorundare Jimoh, has declared that Pastor Paul Adefarasin, the Senior Pastor of House on the Rock Church, committed a criminal offence by pointing a stun gun at a TikTok content creator. Jimoh made the statement on Thursday while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme. He referenced a viral incident involving the popular cleric and a social media influencer known for filming luxury cars in Lagos traffic. In early June, a video surfaced online showing Adefarasin pointing what appeared to be a handgun at the TikToker while seated in a vehicle. The clip sparked…

By Yinka Kareem Your Excellency, Governor Dapo Abiodun, (MFR CON), your decision to transform the hall at the Olumo Tourist Centre into an art gallery under the management of Nike Gallery has prompted me to write this open letter. Handing over Olumo hall to Nike Gallery exposes the ongoing weaknesses in our cultural and tourism administration, though the weaknesses which predated your tenure is a worrying trend. You may wonder why I’ve chosen to raise this delicate issue in a public forum. The fact is that I regard the growth of Ogun State’s cultural and tourism sector as vitally important,…

…First Convocation in Nine Years Marks New Dawn for Ogun Polytechnic Daud Olatunji For the first time in nearly a decade, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, is set to hold a convocation ceremony, graduating over 51,000 students across nine academic sessions, spanning from 2015/2016 to 2023/2024. This milestone event—MAPOLY’s 15th Combined Convocation Ceremony—is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, and will feature the conferment of National Diplomas (ND) and Higher National Diplomas (HND) on graduands from both full-time and part-time programmes. Speaking at a pre-convocation press briefing held at the institution’s council chamber on Thursday, the Rector,…

The wife of former Ogun State Governor, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, on Wednesday joined other descendants of the revered Egba warlord and Balogun of Ikija, Chief Ogunbona Agboketoyinbo Mosuleka, to commemorate his 164th memorial anniversary in Abeokuta, Ogun State. The ceremony, held at the family’s ancestral compound in the historic Ikija area of the state capital, brought together several generations of the Ogunbona Agboketoyinbo dynasty, who gathered to pay tribute to their forebear’s enduring legacy in Egba history. Prominent personalities at the event included the Publisher of Alaroye newspaper, Prince Alao Adedayo; the Asiwaju Onigbagbo of Abeokuta South Local Government, Prince…

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed a total of N1.65 trillion to the three tiers of government—federal, state, and local—in May 2025, a slight decrease from the N1.68 trillion shared in April. This was disclosed in a communique issued at the end of FAAC’s June meeting, chaired by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun. The meeting, held in Abuja, was confirmed through a statement signed by Mohammed Manga, Director of Information and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Finance. The N1.65 trillion was drawn from a gross revenue of N2.94 trillion,…

… Says Ojukwu’s Insistence On Govs To Control Military Zones, Caused Aburi Accord Collapse Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (retd.), has declared that Nigeria, despite its current challenges, is in a much better state than it was during the civil war which ravaged the country over five decades ago. Speaking in an exclusive interview with ARISE News on Wednesday, Gowon maintained that the progress recorded across various sectors since the 1967–1970 conflict is evidence that the nation has continued to survive and grow. “Well, thriving… isn’t Nigeria thriving today? Have we not gone beyond what we were 55…