Author: Platform Times Newspaper

Zainab Abioye The Independent National Electoral Commission has commenced the reproduction of ballot papers and result sheets for the Osun State governorship election following a court order directing the commission to include the Social Democratic Party candidate, Dr Francis Olugbenga Ajala, in the poll. INEC said the reprinted materials would reflect the inclusion of Ajala and his running mate, Faseke Babajimi Oladipo, whose names were previously excluded from the electoral materials. The commission disclosed this in a statement signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, on Wednesday. The development follows…

Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has called on the Federal Government to reopen the investigation into the death of the  winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola, insisting that the circumstances surrounding his death in military custody remain unresolved. Falana argued that fresh investigation was necessary to establish what happened to Abiola, who died on July 7, 1998, while in the custody of the military government headed by General Abdulsalami Abubakar. He made the demand while reviewing Abubakar’s recent account of the incident in his autobiography, Call of Duty, in which…

More than 100 Pan-Yoruba and Itsekiri organisations have moved to end the lingering disagreements among prominent self-determination groups, particularly supporters of the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, and the leader of Irun Ekun, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho. The groups, which met in Lagos on Tuesday and reviewed their resolutions on Wednesday, also constituted a Working Group on Peace Building and Conflict Prevention in Western Nigeria to mediate disputes among Yoruba and Itsekiri organisations. The meeting was convened by journalist, Adewale Adeoye; Chief Adekunle Adesokan; and Alhaji Jubril Ogundimu. In a communique signed by the…

Grace Adeleke Jailed Nigerian former militant, Henry Emomotimi Okah, has accused officials of the South Gauteng High Court in South Africa of frustrating his attempt to correct what he described as a factual error in the record of his trial. Okah, who is serving a 24-year prison sentence in South Africa over his conviction for terrorism-related offences linked to the October 1, 2010 Independence Day bombings in Abuja, alleged that the disputed record was subsequently relied upon by the Constitutional Court in dismissing his final appeal. The former militant, who is currently detained at the Zonderwater Maximum Correctional Centre in…

Daud Olatunji Nigeria’s elephant population has plunged to about 400, with conservation experts warning that continued forest destruction, poaching, habitat fragmentation and human-wildlife conflicts could push the country’s remaining elephants beyond recovery. The experts raised the alarm on Wednesday during a World Elephant Day media chat organised by Wild Africa and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation to mark the annual event. Wildlife veterinarian and conservationist, Dr Mark Ofua, said the surviving population comprised about 300 forest elephants and 100 savannah elephants, describing the figure as dangerously close to a critical threshold. Ofua, who is Wild Africa’s West African representative, said Nigeria…

The Senator representing Osun East Senatorial District, Francis Fadahunsi, has denied threatening members of the Accord Party and their families, insisting that a viral video allegedly portraying him as inciting violence ahead of Saturday’s governorship election was edited to distort his remarks. Fadahunsi made the clarification on Wednesday after he was interrogated by the police at the Osun State Police Command headquarters in Osogbo over the controversial video. The senator, who arrived at the command at about 2:35pm alongside the Commissioner of Police in charge of election and security, Samuel Erale, was questioned at the Criminal Investigation Department. Speaking with…

The African Democratic Congress has raised the alarm over an alleged plan to arrest its National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, ahead of Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State. The opposition party said it had received what it described as “credible reports” that security agencies were planning to arrest the former governor of Osun State in the days leading to the election. The allegation was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by the ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi. The party expressed concern that any attempt to arrest Aregbesola shortly before the poll could disrupt its campaign and election-day coordination in…

Ayomide Awe The Accord Party has petitioned the European Union to intervene in the escalating political tension in Osun State ahead of Saturday’s governorship election, alleging that at least 29 people have been killed in violence linked to the political crisis. The party also claimed that more than 60 of its members and supporters had been arrested and detained in Abuja and Nasarawa State, raising concerns over what it described as the alleged selective deployment of federal law-enforcement and regulatory agencies during the election period. The National Chairman of Accord, Maxwell Mgbudem, made the allegations in a letter dated August…

Two of the 16 travellers rescued from kidnappers in Kogi State have recounted harrowing experiences in captivity, revealing that their abductors demanded ransoms of up to N100m from individual victims and threatened to sell them to ritualists if their families failed to pay. The victims, Ngozi Stephen and Joshua Daniel, spoke on Tuesday at the Kogi State Police Command headquarters following their rescue during a joint security operation. The victims were abducted on Sunday when armed criminals attacked commuters along the Ojuwo–Ajengo–Memarebo and Ojiwo–Itobe roads in Ofu Local Government Area of the state. They were rescued on Monday along the…

A newborn baby has allegedly been abducted from the Comprehensive Health Centre in Gboko, Benue State, hours after delivery. The incident reportedly occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, August 12, 2026, throwing the baby’s family and other patients into distress. An activist, Zege’Orkwande Sughnen Yaaya, who disclosed the incident in a Facebook post on Wednesday, said the suspected abductor gained access to the maternity ward at about 4am and fled with the newborn. According to Yaaya, the woman had allegedly been seen around the baby’s mother when she arrived at the health facility for delivery. He said the woman…