Author: Platform Times Newspaper

Armed men have kidnapped the District Head of Bagaji Odo in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi State, Chief David Wada, throwing the community into fear and uncertainty. The monarch, a second-class traditional ruler, was seized on Monday evening while returning from a traditional council meeting held in Abejukolo, headquarters of the council area. Spokesman of the Kogi State Police Command, SP William Ovye-Aya, who confirmed the incident on Tuesday in Lokoja, said the ruler was ambushed at Ojuwo Ugweche by heavily armed gunmen who whisked him away into the forest at gunpoint. “Immediately we received the distress call, our…

A Magistrate Court sitting in Ikorodu, Lagos State, has ordered a Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) test to be conducted to determine the paternity of Liam, the only child of late Nigerian singer, Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba, popularly known as Mohbad. The order, granted on Tuesday, followed an application by the singer’s father, Mr. Joseph Aloba, who insisted that a paternity test was necessary to establish whether Liam is indeed Mohbad’s biological son. The presiding magistrate, Adefisoye Sonuga, ruled that the test must be carried out in a recognised and accredited medical facility either within Nigeria or abroad. According to the court documents,…

The Ogun Tech Community has called on Governor Dapo Abiodun to establish a dedicated Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the state, warning that the absence of such an institution is stalling the full benefits of Nigeria’s digital economy policies. The group, which is a coalition of startups, innovation hubs, IT professionals, and digital experts across the state, said Ogun should not lag behind despite producing some of the country’s most influential ICT policymakers, including Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, and Senator Shuaib Afolabi Salisu, Chairman of the Senate Committee on ICT and…

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Osun State, has dismissed as baseless the claims by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) that figures from the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise in the state were “statistically implausible.” INEC, in a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Musa Olurode, on behalf of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Mutiu Olaleke Agboke, said Osun had consistently recorded high civic participation in voter registration, contrary to ADC’s insinuations. The electoral body described the ADC’s allegation as unfounded, stressing that Osun has a verifiable history of leading other states in online pre-registration during the build-up…

A young mother in Ebonyi State, Miss Nwanneka Susannah Nweze, has accused some police officers of the state command of trafficking and selling her newborn baby for N25 million after allegedly deceiving her with claims that she was in an “illegal marriage.” Susannah, who spoke during an interrogation session at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Annex, Enugu, narrated how she was arrested in Afikpo by three officers who claimed they were acting on the orders of the Commissioner of Police in Ebonyi. The session, presided over by Assistant Inspector General of Police, Chukwudi Chris Ariekpere, was reportedly recorded on…

The Defence Headquarters on Tuesday dismissed allegations that the Nigerian Armed Forces were involved in making payments to bandits, insisting that such an approach had proven ineffective in addressing the country’s worsening insecurity. The Chief of Defence Operations, Major General Emeka Onumajuru, speaking on Channels Television, stressed that the military was not part of any arrangement to fund criminal groups operating in northern Nigeria. “The Armed Forces of Nigeria do not support the payment of money to criminal groups. We are not part of that arrangement,” he declared. Onumajuru explained that rather than ransom or inducements, the military had been…

Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, on Tuesday declared that his second-term ambition would never be pursued at the expense of human lives, warning political actors against actions that could plunge the state into violence. Oyebanji, in a statewide broadcast, expressed concern over what he described as “orchestrated violent campaigns” in parts of the state, alleging that some individuals had sponsored coordinated media and physical attacks against his administration. The governor maintained that the security of lives and property remained his top priority, stressing that no political aspiration should be nurtured with bloodshed. “A couple of days ago, we received intelligence…

….Nearly 15,000 students sought asylum after visa expiry in 2025 …Nigerians among thousands flagged in Home Office campaign The United Kingdom government has placed international students, including thousands of Nigerians, on a strict watchlist following rising cases of visa breaches and asylum claims. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), tens of thousands of foreign students are currently being contacted by the UK Home Office and warned against overstaying their visas, with the threat of deportation hanging over violators. The Home Office confirmed on Tuesday that it had begun sending emails and text messages to students, warning them of “swift…

The President of the Nigerian-Finnish Association and former Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has hailed the six-year prison sentence handed to Simon Ekpa by a Finnish court, describing it as a decisive blow against terrorism. Ekpa, a self-acclaimed leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), was convicted by the Päijät-Häme District Court in Finland on terrorism-related charges after months of trial. Reacting to the judgement on Tuesday, Daniel said the ruling was not only “resolute and judicious” but also a “watershed moment” in the global fight against violent extremism. “This verdict demonstrates that the tentacles of terrorism…

Wema Bank has intensified efforts to scale up its capital base as pressure mounts on tier-2 lenders to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) March 2026 recapitalisation deadline. A new report by SBM Intelligence titled “Capital, Competition, and Consolidation: How Nigeria’s Tier-2 Banks are Responding to the CBN’s 2026 Recapitalisation Order” spotlighted Wema Bank alongside Fidelity, FCMB, Stanbic IBTC and Sterling as institutions navigating the historic shake-up in Nigeria’s banking sector. The CBN had in March 2024 directed international banks to shore up capital to ₦500 billion, national banks to ₦200 billion, and regional banks to ₦50 billion before…