Author: Platform Times Newspaper

Victoria Ikenne The promoter of Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited, Leno Adesanya, has acknowledged transferring $500,000 to Jennifer Douglas, the former wife of ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, during negotiations surrounding the controversial Mambilla Hydropower Project in 2003. Adesanya told a three-member International Chamber of Commerce arbitration tribunal that the payment, made on January 30, 2003, was a legitimate foreign-exchange transaction carried out for Atiku. However, the tribunal rejected the explanation, saying Adesanya failed to produce sufficient documentary evidence to establish that the transaction was a foreign-exchange deal for the former vice-president. The findings are contained in the final award…

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the arrest and prosecution of any government official found culpable in the deaths of 37 suspected illegal miners while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Niger State. The President also directed a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths, stressing that suspected involvement in illegal mining could not deprive the victims of their right to life and humane treatment while in government custody. Tinubu gave the directive in a statement issued on Friday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, describing the deaths…

Daud Olatunji The APC Presidential Campaign Council, in a statement issued on Friday by its spokesman, Dele Alake, said the revelations arising from the arbitration had raised questions that, in its view, should disqualify Atiku from seeking the presidency in 2027. The controversy centres on a payment of $500,000 transferred on January 30, 2003, through China Castle Investments Limited, an offshore company controlled by Adesanya, into Douglas’s Citibank account in the United States. The payment came less than four months before Sunrise was purportedly awarded a build-operate-transfer contract for the Mambilla project by then Minister of Power and Steel, Olu…

Mujeeb Akindoyin The House of Representatives has commenced an investigation into the prolonged exclusion of thousands of law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria from admission into the Nigerian Law School for professional training and Call to Bar. The investigation followed a petition by more than 5,000 affected graduates under the aegis of the Backlog of Law Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria, who appealed to the National Assembly to intervene in the dispute between the university and the regulatory authorities. The House Committee on Public Petitions invited the management of NOUN and the Nigerian Law…

Daud Olatunji The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress-led administration of using the power of incumbency to harass, intimidate and suppress opposition activities ahead of the 2027 general elections. The opposition party also alleged that its campaign train was attacked with gunshots, stones and other weapons at Ososa in Odogbolu Local Government Area, during its Ogun East Senatorial District campaign flag-off on Wednesday. The PDP State Chairman, Dr Abayomi Tella, made the allegations on Thursday at a press briefing held at the party’s secretariat in Abeokuta, where he called on the…

Toyyibat Qasim The Gender Development Initiative (GenDi) has called for a review and strengthening of relevant laws in Ogun State to tackle human trafficking, child abuse, violence, exploitation and other forms of abuse against vulnerable persons. The call was made during a legislative advocacy engagement led by GenDi with the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Oludaisi Elemide, at the Assembly Complex on September 1, 2026. The engagement was organised within the framework of the Schools Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project (STEAP), being implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), with GenDi serving…

….NAPTIP, ICMPD, security agencies, community leaders, others demand stronger border vigilance Daud Olatunji Stakeholders in Idiroko, a major border community in Ogun State, have adopted a 25-point communique aimed at strengthening the fight against human trafficking and violence against persons along the state’s border corridors. The communique was issued at the end of a two-day community engagement and town hall meeting organised in Idiroko on September 10 and 11, 2026, by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development under its Building an Environment Free of Human Trafficking and Violence Against Persons (TIPVAP) and School Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project (STEAP).…

…Says no senator can single-handedly insert, approve ₦250bn projects Daud Olatunji The Media and Publicity Committee of the Ogun State APC Campaign Council has dismissed allegations linking the party’s 2027 governorship candidate, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, to alleged budget insertions and diversion of public funds amounting to ₦250 billion. The committee described the allegations as “false, baseless and politically motivated,” insisting that the Senator, despite being Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, does not possess the constitutional power to unilaterally insert or approve projects in the national budget. The statement, signed by the committee’s Chairman,…

The Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, has described a professional and politically neutral civil service as indispensable to effective governance, sustainable development and economic growth. Oyebanji, who spoke through the state Head of Service, Dr Folakemi Olomojobi, made the declaration at the 12th South-West Regional Quarterly Meeting of the Association of Retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries held in Ado Ekiti. The governor commended retired top civil servants across the region for their contributions to public administration, saying their professionalism, integrity and experience had helped build a durable foundation for governance in the South-West. Oyebanji also disclosed that his…

….Seizures’ DPV put at N2.47bn, 3,893 cannabis Parcels Handed Over To NDLEA Daud Olatunji The Ogun I Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has intercepted 1,204 bags of foreign parboiled rice, 1.878 tonnes of suspected cannabis, 428 pneumatic tyres and thousands of litres of petroleum products in its anti-smuggling operations across the state. The Acting Area Controller of the command, Deputy Comptroller Oladapo Afeni, disclosed this during a press conference at the command headquarters in Idiroko, Ogun State, where he presented the operational performance of the command. Afeni said the command also seized 24 bales of second-hand clothing, four…