These are the stories you should be monitoring today:

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is alleging that there is a fresh plot to use the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to forcibly remove Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, from office and scuttle the success being recorded by its Presidential Campaign Organisation in its consultations and winning campaigns across the nation ahead of the 2019 general election.

According to the party in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, it is “privy to clandestine meetings by the Muhammadu Buhari presidency and the leadership of the APC, which has not been able to constitute a Presidential campaign organisation, on ways to derail the PDP presidential campaign by going against Saraki”

“Part of the plot is to use the police and the DSS to fabricate spurious charges against Saraki, distract him and destabilise the PDP presidential campaign,” a scheme the PDP described as “dead on arrival, as Nigerians are solidly behind the PDP in the mission to rescue the nation from the misrule of the APC.”

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The Court of Appeal in Ibadan on Tuesday set aside a court order which directed Independent National Electoral Commission to recognise the list of candidates submitted for the 2019 general elections by a faction of Ogun PDP led by Bayo Dayo and loyal to Senator Buruji Kashamu.

The three-man appeal panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani said the applicants were not properly served the originating summons which he said was fundamental and a precondition which would affect and determine the validity of the court ’s proceedings and as well notify them that there existed a case before the judge assumed jurisdiction.

“Non-service of the originating summons on the applicants at the lower court rendered all the order given at the lower court against the applicants a nullity and this is an indication that the applicants were not given a fair hearing. “In the interest of justice, the order of the lower court is set aside, null and void and an academic exercise,’’ the panel unanimously agreed.

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Similarly, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has dissolved the State Executive Committees, Local government and Ward executives in Imo and Ogun and has concluded to inaugurate caretaker committees that would superintend over the affairs of the party in the two states ahead of the general elections.

The development was sequel to resolutions reached during Tuesday’s meeting of its National Working Committee (NWC) presided over by the National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole in Abuja, a move taken apparently to further curtail the influence of the governors in both states, Rochas Okorocha (Imo) and Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) who have publicly declared to support their preferred candidates flying the flag of other parties.

According to Punch, a member of the NWC who spoke to its correspondent said that the meeting decided to dissolve all the party structures in Ogun and Imo states to stem the conflict of ideas being promoted by the two governors which could jeopardise the party’s efforts to win the two states.

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The Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday reacted to the latest report by Amnesty International accusing the Federal Government of impunity, as he called on Nigerians to vote out the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration in 2019, as a means of addressing the security challenges.

in a statement by his Communication Adviser, Phrank Shaibu, said it has become clear “like Amnesty International said in its report, that the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari has displayed gross incompetence and has failed in its duty to protect the lives of its population, which has witnessed many preventable deaths and lost many good hands,” while assuring Nigerians that he would apply proven and tested strategies to insecurity if voted into office.

“After every attack, either by herdsmen or by kidnappers, the government will vow to get the culprits and punish them. Then more deaths will occur, and the government will repeat its vow. “This is not reassuring to the people of Nigeria as well as foreigners who may want to do business in the country,” the former vice president said.

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The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has blamed the duo of Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, for the protest by workers of the National Assembly demanding payment of their due allowances, deserved promotion among other issues.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, on Tuesday, the APC described the protest as a shameful development and a reminder of the 16-year rule by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) characterised by such incidences of unpaid salaries, ghost workers and a shocking disdain for workers’ welfare, urging the Senate President, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to do the needful by attending to the demands of the parliamentary workers.

“While the minority PDP usurpers who parade themselves as the National Assembly leadership have promptly paid themselves their allowances, National Assembly workers, under the umbrella of Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), are owed their duly earned 28 per cent increase in their salaries since 2010,” the statement read.

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And stories from around the world:

Britain risks slipping from being the world’s fifth-biggest economy to its seventh-largest next year, when it is due to leave the European Union, with France and India on course to overtake it, accountancy firm PwC said. (NAN)

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British Prime Minister Theresa May will urge the devolved nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to “listen to business” at a meeting on Wednesday and back her Brexit deal, which envisages continuing close ties with the EU. (Reuters)

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