Author: Platform Times Newspaper

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested the Special Adviser to the Benue State Governor on Documentation, Research, and Planning, Dr. Mkor Aondona, over allegations of sextortion, cyberbullying, and criminal blackmail. Aondona was picked up on Friday by operatives of the Commission’s Makurdi Zonal Directorate following a series of petitions filed by multiple female students, who accused him of luring them into sexual relationships under false pretences and coercion. The petitioners alleged that the governor’s aide routinely selected slim and attractive young women for ushering jobs under the guise of offering them legitimate employment, only to demand sexual…

Despite widespread institutional distrust and poor life satisfaction, Nigeria has emerged as one of the world’s most hospitable nations to strangers, ranking 7th globally in the 2025 World Happiness Report. The report, released by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network in collaboration with the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre and Gallup, assessed 147 countries based on various indices, including prosocial behaviours such as helping strangers, volunteering, and charitable giving. Nigeria’s high ranking highlights the country’s strong culture of interpersonal generosity, even as it struggles with weak public institutions and overall low happiness levels. The country placed 105th in…

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has sentenced seven Chinese nationals to one year in prison for their involvement in a large-scale cyberterrorism and internet fraud operation uncovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The convicts — Peng Li Huan, Zhang Jin Rong, He Kun, Rachelle Cabalona, Caselyn Pionela, Guo Long Long, and Zhang Hua Zhai — were among the over 700 suspects apprehended in December 2024 during a massive anti-cybercrime raid on a building located on Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island. Justices Ayokunle Faji, Chukwujekwu Aneke, and Yellim Bogoro, who presided over the cases in separate…

Vice President Kashim Shettima has raised the alarm over the deepening link between poverty, climate change, and rising insecurity in Nigeria, urging for stronger international collaboration to address the crisis. Shettima made the call on Friday during a courtesy visit by the Chief of Mission of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Nigeria, Sharon Dimanche, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. According to the Vice President, the convergence of poverty, illiteracy, and environmental degradation is at the heart of widespread displacement and escalating violence across the country, particularly in the North-East, North-Central, and North-West regions. “There is an incestuous relationship…

A fresh wave of traditional leadership crisis has erupted in Oyo State as the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Ghandi Olaoye, declared the Olugbon of Orile-Igbon, Oba Francis Olusola Alao, and the Onpetu of Ijeru as “strangers” in Ogbomoso land, ordering them to vacate territories he claimed were historically granted by past Souns. The monarch, in a strongly worded video address circulated online and monitored by PLATFORM TIMES, accused the two prominent Obas of historical revisionism, insubordination, and sowing disunity within the traditional institution of Ogbomoso. “Some of those whom past Souns accommodated during the inter-tribal wars, who were given land…

As Nigeria braces for another devastating flood season, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has identified 12 states and 43 Local Government Areas (LGAs) as high-risk zones for potential flood disasters in 2025. The agency’s Director-General, Mrs. Zubaida Umar, raised the alarm during an inception meeting with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Abuja. She revealed that over 5.2 million Nigerians were affected by floods in 2024 alone, with 1,237 deaths, and destruction stretching across 35 states. “These floods displaced more than 1.2 million people and destroyed 116,172 homes as well as over 1.4 million hectares of farmland in…

The Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Oludaisi Elemide, has renewed his call on the state government to urgently establish a State Boundary Commission to resolve recurring inter-state land disputes, especially at volatile border communities such as Ode-Omi. Elemide made the call during plenary on Thursday in response to a report by Hon. Lawal Adekunle, representing Ogun Waterside Constituency, who alleged encroachment into Ode-Omi by officials of the Lagos State Town Development Authority. The Speaker described the reported invasion as a serious breach and called for swift government intervention to protect Ogun indigenes from “unwarranted attacks…

A socio-political group, Ogun West Initiative, has lauded the lawmaker representing Ogun West Senatorial District, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, for executing over 250 constituency projects and empowering more than 40,000 residents within two years of his tenure. The group, through its convener, Mr. Bolaji Adeniji, disclosed this during a media engagement held on Friday in Abeokuta, describing Adeola’s mid-term performance as “unprecedented and transformative” in the history of the senatorial district. According to Adeniji, Senator Adeola, popularly known as YAYI, has deployed a multidimensional strategy that has resulted in massive infrastructural development, robust legislative performance, and large-scale empowerment schemes that…

A coalition of persons with disabilities in Ogun State has made a passionate appeal to Governor Dapo Abiodun to urgently implement the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018, in the state. The appeal was made by Mr. Abdulwahab Matepo, Interim National President of the Spinal Cord Injuries Association of Nigeria, and Ms. Oluwatomisin Olatayo, a member of the Nigeria Association of the Blind (NAB), during an appearance on Your Image, a public relations programme aired on Ogun State Television (OGTV). Speaking on the topic “Disability Law: Progress, Challenges and the Way Forward,” the advocates lamented the continued exclusion…

By Imam Nojeem Jimoh Everyone has his or her own idea of who a role model is – and rightly so. So do I. As a dutiful wife to one’s husband and wonderful mum to her children, I have not found many I would place ahead of our own Rashidat Salisu. Fate brought us together four decades ago as innocent, young co-students at the University of Lagos (UNILAG). The Muslim Student Society of Nigeria (MSS in our days, not MSSN) became a glue which bound us together. Her marriage to my good friend, Senator Shuaib Afolabi Salisu (the world famous…