Author: Platform Times Newspaper

Former spokesman to ex-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Mr Laolu Akande, has said former President Olusegun Obasanjo played a major role in weakening party politics in Nigeria by subordinating party structures to presidential power. Akande made the claim during an interview on Channels Television’s Inside Sources, where he argued that Obasanjo’s leadership style reshaped Nigeria’s political culture in ways that diminished the authority of political parties. According to him, “One of the reasons why all of these uninspiring dispensations of party politics are upon us is because the nature of party politics in Nigeria has been heavily devalued, heavily destroyed starting…

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, has said the Federal Government is working to reduce its dependence on borrowing while intensifying efforts to attract both domestic and foreign investment into the Nigerian economy. Edun disclosed this in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Tuesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where Nigeria is showcasing its economic reforms and renewed investor confidence. He explained that although the 2026 budget deficit appears wider following approval by the National Assembly, the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains committed to fiscal…

The Magistrate Court sitting in Sagamu, Ogun State, on Tuesday adjourned the trial of Adeniyi Kayode, the driver of the Lexus SUV involved in the fatal crash that claimed the lives of two close associates of former world heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Joshua, to February 25, 2026. Kayode is facing a four-count charge filed by the Ogun State Police Command, bordering on dangerous driving causing death, reckless and negligent driving, driving without due care and attention, and driving without a valid national driver’s licence. At the resumption of hearing, the prosecuting counsel, Richard Nigiwe, informed the court that three of…

The Department of State Services on Monday re-arraigned activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, before the Federal High Court in Abuja over an alleged anti-President Bola Tinubu social media post, as the Federal Government formally withdrew charges against Meta Platforms Inc. and X Corporation. The prosecution’s move followed an amended charge that left Sowore as the sole defendant in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/484/2025. Sowore was initially arraigned on December 2, 2025, alongside the two tech giants, but at Monday’s proceedings before Justice Umar, lead prosecution counsel, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), informed the court that the earlier charge had been withdrawn…

Fawaz Adebisi The Ogun State Government has fulfilled its pledge to reward outstanding graduates of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, MAPOLY, by presenting ₦2.5m each to nine beneficiaries, weeks after a Platform Times report spotlighted the death of a top graduate who passed away before receiving the promised cash award. The pledge was made by Governor Dapo Abiodun at MAPOLY’s 15th Combined Convocation Ceremony in June 2025, when he announced a ₦2bn intervention fund for the institution and promised ₦2.5m rewards to outstanding graduates dating back to 2016. Among the beneficiaries was the family of the late Orisawayi Samuel Emmanuel, popularly known…

A Lagos-based medical doctor has been remanded in custody for allegedly issuing a forged medical report to help social welfare activist, Adetoun Onajobi, popularly known as Just Adetoun, evade arrest, as the Ogun State Government declared the activist wanted over alleged cybercrime-related offences. The state government, on Monday, confirmed that the Ogun State Police Command had filed a six-count charge against Onajobi, who it said had gone into hiding after failing to honour police invitations over controversial social media videos against Governor Dapo Abiodun. In a statement issued via its official X handle, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice,…

A Lagos man identified as Olumuyiwa Adjoto has been sentenced to double life imprisonment for defiling his wife’s 6-year-old niece after he was convicted of two of the three-count charge of defilement, sexual assault by penetration and indecent treatment of a child filed against him by the police. Justice Rahman Oshodi of Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Monday sentenced Adjoto after he held that the prosecution had successfully proved beyond reasonable doubt, two counts out of the three-count charge against Adjoto. Adjoto was charged by the Lagos State Government with a three-count charge of defilement, sexual assault…

The father of the prime suspect in the gruesome killing of a woman and her six children in Kano has called on authorities to execute his son without delay, declaring that he deserves no mercy for what he described as an unforgivable crime. Malam Auwal, speaking in an emotional interview on Freedom Radio on Monday, disowned his son, Umar Auwal, who is currently in police custody over the brutal murder of his aunt, Fatima Abubakar, 35, and her children in Dorayi Chiranchi area of the Kano metropolis. The victims were identified as Maimuna, 17; Aisha, 16; Bashir, 13; Abubakar, 10;…

The President of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, has unveiled an ambitious Vision 2030 strategy aimed at driving Africa’s industrialisation, boosting economic self-sufficiency and empowering the continent’s next generation. Dangote said the roadmap would reposition the conglomerate as a $100bn enterprise within the next five years through aggressive expansion, cross-border investments and deeper participation in strategic sectors such as energy, manufacturing and infrastructure. Speaking on the company’s long-term outlook, he stressed that the Group’s mission goes beyond profit-making to building Africa’s productive capacity. “Our ambition goes far beyond building factories,” Dangote said. “We are building the structures that will…

The Labour Party (LP) has called on former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, the Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, and former Governor Olusegun Osoba to urgently intervene over what it described as the alleged sale of government-owned housing estates and heritage assets by the Ogun State Government. In a statement issued on Monday, the party’s National Vice Chairman (South West), Abayomi Arabambi, accused the administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun of disposing of public housing assets built with taxpayers’ funds, warning that the development threatens the future of affordable housing in the state. Arabambi…