Author: Platform Times Newspaper

Ayomide Awe Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised President Bola Tinubu over the alleged allocation of ₦22.15 billion in the proposed 2026 federal budget for the construction and renovation of 106 palaces across Nigeria, describing the expenditure as unconstitutional and lacking transparency. Atiku, in a statement issued on Thursday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the budgetary provision represented a violation of the constitutional responsibilities of the Federal Government and raised concerns about accountability in public spending. He alleged that the allocation reflected an attempt to turn the national budget into “an instrument for…

Three men have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Abuja for concealing information about the masterminds of the infamous Oriire school kidnapping in Oyo State. The convicts were found guilty after pleading guilty to charges brought against them by the Federal Government, admitting that they deliberately withheld information that could have exposed those behind the abduction. Justice Salem Ibrahim handed down the sentence after the defendants confessed to concealing vital information relating to the kidnapping, which involved pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. The prosecution also established that the convicts…

…Insists AD Govs mLMisunderstood Behind-The-Scenes Political Negotiations …Says Alliance With Opposition Was Driven By National Unity, Not Weakness Daud Olatunji Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched a blistering response to former Ogun State Governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, rejecting allegations that he deceived leaders of the Alliance for Democracy during the political events leading to the 2003 general elections. In a lengthy letter dated July 23, 2026, and titled “Reply to Your Inaccurate Posture: ‘How Obasanjo Deceived Us in 2003’,” the former President described Osoba’s account as inaccurate, misleading and based on incomplete knowledge of the political realities of the period.…

Leaders of Fulani communities, security agencies, farmers, traditional institutions and government representatives in Oyo State have called for stronger collaboration to tackle kidnapping, farmer-herder clashes and other security threats, warning against the ethnic profiling of Fulani people over crimes committed by individuals. The resolution was reached at a stakeholders’ peace and security meeting convened by the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Oyo State and hosted by the Oyo West Local Government. The meeting attracted representatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Amotekun Corps, traditional…

Today on Platform Times Newspaper, 23rd July, 2026. Visit www.platformtimes.com.ng for many more stories.

…NDLEA Accuses Three Mexicans, Seven Nigerians Of Running Illicit Drug Factory …Agency Warns International Cartels Are  Shifting Operations  Into South-West Forests Daud Olatunji A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Wednesday conducted an inspection of an alleged clandestine methamphetamine laboratory in Ogun State as the trial of three Mexican nationals and seven Nigerians accused of operating a multi-billion-naira drug manufacturing syndicate continued. The inspection, led by Justice Musa Kakaki, took place at the sprawling facility located in Iloti community within the Mowe Forest axis of Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State, where the National Drug Law Enforcement…

A Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan has restrained the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from proceeding with its planned investigation into the finances of the Oyo State Government, ruling that the anti-graft agency’s proposed probe amounted to a “fishing expedition” unsupported by any specific allegation of wrongdoing. Justice Nkeonye Maha, who delivered the judgment on Wednesday in Suit No. FHC/IB/CS/61/2025, held that while the EFCC possesses statutory powers to investigate financial crimes, such powers must be exercised in line with the Constitution and the rule of law. The judge ruled that the commission’s June 2, 2025 letter to the…

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation has commenced the payment of insured deposits to customers of 46 microfinance banks whose operating licences were revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria on July 1, 2026. The Managing Director of the NDIC, Thompson Sunday, disclosed this on Wednesday during the Africa Regional Committee meeting of the International Association of Deposit Insurers held in Abuja. Sunday said the corporation had adopted a technology-driven payment process by leveraging the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System and depositors’ Bank Verification Numbers to identify alternative bank accounts and credit eligible customers directly. According to him, the approach eliminates the…

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, has attributed the apparent scarcity of N100 and N200 notes to the growing adoption of digital payment channels and the declining purchasing power of lower-denomination naira notes. Cardoso, however, dismissed speculation that the notes had been withdrawn from circulation, insisting they remain legal tender and should continue to be accepted for transactions nationwide. Speaking on Tuesday after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, the CBN governor said the apex bank had not announced the withdrawal of any denomination of the naira. “Yes, they remain legal tender. Unless the Central…

The Senate has threatened to invoke its constitutional powers against several revenue-generating Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), over their alleged refusal to honour invitations to explain their revenue remittances to the Federal Government. The upper chamber said the affected agencies could face legislative sanctions if they continue to ignore summons issued by its Committee on Finance. The warning followed a point of order raised on Wednesday by the Chairman of the Senate Committee…