Author: Platform Times Newspaper

A former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress and ex-Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, has revealed that he personally nominated Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as the running mate to the late former President, Muhammadu Buhari, ahead of the 2015 general election. Akande said the decision followed consultations with President Bola Tinubu in 2011, contrary to widespread public belief that Tinubu single-handedly picked Osinbajo as Buhari’s vice-presidential candidate. The APC chieftain made the disclosure while speaking on State Affairs, a podcast hosted by Edmund Obilo, where he shed light on the behind-the-scenes political calculations that shaped the Buhari-Osinbajo ticket.…

Four men ;Olukayode Adeyemi Lisoyi, Chief Sikiru Olatunde Atobatele (Balogun of Egba), Mr Ade Kadejo and Mr Kabiru Adebesin, have been dragged before the Ogun State High Court over allegations bordering on malicious damage, intimidation and the alleged ill-treatment of a prominent community figure in Iboku-Aro, Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area. The suit, filed at the Abeokuta Judicial Division, was instituted by Sunday Babatunde Aro-Oguntola, a block maker, farmer and heir apparent to the Baaleship of Iboku-Aro. In his statement of claim, Aro-Oguntola alleged that the defendants, whom he described as non-indigenes, migrated into Iboku-Aro and later became land speculators involved…

The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) in Kano State has arrested two young women for allegedly attempting to smuggle illicit drugs into the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Goron Dutse. The suspects, identified as Maryam Ali and Hauwa Musa, both aged between 19 and 20, were intercepted during routine security checks at the facility on Sunday, December 21, 2025. Confirming the arrest in a statement on Monday, the Public Relations Officer of the Kano State Command of the NCoS, Musbahu Lawan Nassarawa, said the women, who are residents of Kano State, were apprehended while trying to gain access to the custodial centre…

The Kano State Police Command has rescued a man accused of blasphemy from being lynched by an angry mob at a hotel in the Badawa area of Kano metropolis. The incident occurred at about 9:45 p.m. on Saturday at Sarina Hotel, Badawa Quarters, following allegations that the suspect desecrated the Holy Qur’an within the hotel premises. Security analyst, Zagazola Makama, who disclosed the development on Monday via his verified X (formerly Twitter) handle, said the suspect was in the company of two others when the incident happened. According to the account, three men identified as Musa Tasiu, Awwal Ibrahim and…

Yoruba Nation activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, has raised the alarm over the alleged killing of three farmers in his hometown of Igboho, Orelope Local Government Area, Oyo State. In a statement issued on Monday, Igboho identified the victims as Aderoju Mukaila, Olawuwo Saka, and Ojeniyi Ojebayo. According to him, the farmers were attacked with axes, cutlasses, and other dangerous weapons by suspected Fulani herdsmen after protesting the destruction of their farms by grazing cattle. The victims were reportedly rushed to a hospital but succumbed to their injuries despite medical efforts to save them. Igboho described…

An Ogun State High Court in Ijebu-Ode on Monday dismissed an application by renowned Fuji musician, Otunba Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as KWAM 1, seeking to stop the ongoing selection process for the next Awujale of Ijebuland. Presiding Justice A. A. Omoniyi ruled that KWAM 1’s suit lacked merit and refused to grant an interim injunction to restrain the respondents from continuing the installation process. KWAM 1, claiming lineage from the Fidipote Ruling House, had filed suit No. HC3/238/2025, challenging the exclusivity of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House in producing the next monarch. The musician named Governor Dapo Abiodun, the…

A minor dispute over ₦1,000 has ended in tragedy, as a man identified as Ezekiel admitted before the police that he fatally struck a relative during a heated argument, despite repeated pleas from family members to calm down. Ezekiel, who spoke during police interrogation, said the incident occurred in the heat of the moment and was never intended to result in death. “It was by mistake. I didn’t know when I hit him,” he said, adding that several relatives, including the deceased, had tried unsuccessfully to pacify him as tensions escalated. He explained that the ₦1,000 at the centre of…

The Federal Government has formally classified kidnappers and violent armed groups operating across the country as terrorists, signalling a major shift in Nigeria’s strategy to combat abductions, banditry and attacks on farmers and rural communities. The declaration was made on Monday by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, during the Federal Government’s end-of-year press briefing in Abuja. With the new designation, acts of mass kidnapping, attacks on farmlands and raids on villages will no longer be treated as ordinary criminal offences but prosecuted and confronted within the framework of counterterrorism operations. Idris said President Bola Tinubu had…

…Policy Targets Substance Sbuse Among Young Applicants … MDAs To Partner NDLEA As Rule Takes Immediate Effect Daud Olatunji The Federal Government has approved mandatory pre-employment drug testing for all applicants seeking employment in the Nigerian public service, in a sweeping policy shift aimed at curbing substance abuse and improving productivity across government institutions. The directive, which takes immediate effect, was announced on Monday in Abuja by the Director of Information and Public Relations in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Segun Imohiosen. In a statement, Imohiosen said the decision was contained in a…

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 26-year-old housewife, Misturah Bada, and her accomplice, Adedamola Daniel, for allegedly staging her own kidnapping to extort N2.5 million from her husband, who lives in South Africa. The suspects were apprehended by operatives of the command’s Special Squad for offences including false kidnapping, conspiracy, and extortion, the police said. According to a statement by the state police spokesperson, Abimbola Adebisi, the saga began on November 24 when Bada’s husband reported that armed men had abducted his wife and demanded a ransom of N10 million, later reduced to N3 million. “A sum of…