Here are the stories you should be monitoring today.

Ezekwesili promises to reduce poverty

The Presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (APCN) and former minister of education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has promised to implement a policy that will reduce the level of poverty and hardship in the country if elected. Ezekwesili, a co-campaigner of the buzzy Bring Back Our Girls movement spoke in Abuja in a rally while addressing her supporters who thronged out to welcome her.

The presidential hopeful disclosed that she decided to embark on a campaign strategy that is different from the other major political parties to feel the pains of the less privileged and know how to address their problems when elected.

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PDP says it has flushed out corrupt leaders into APC

Former ruling party PDP has said it has flushed out corrupt leaders into APC. The party made this revelation at a political stakeholders’ forum organised by the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria in Ikeja, Lagos.

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Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, has denied endorsing  presidential aspirant Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 presidential election. The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the organisation, Mr Chuks Ibegbu disclosed this on Thursday in Enugu at a media briefing to mark the second anniversary of the current executive of the organisation.

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Atiku promises youths-driven administration

Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar promised to run a youth-driven administration if elected as president. Atiku made the commitment on Thursday at the PDP presidential campaign in Lafia, the Nasarawa state capital. According to the presidential hopeful, the essence of running the youth driven administration was to prepare them to garner experience for effective governance.

“Let me make this commitment that 40 per cent of my government will be dedicated to the youth and 30 per cent to the women. This is because I want the youth to garner enough experience to be able to take over from us,” Atiku said.

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Fake news must be fought with vigour – Soyinka

To curtail the spread of fake news in Nigeria, Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has said that the menace must be fought with vigour.

Soyinka said this at the ‘Beyond Fake News Conference’ held by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Abuja. The Nobel laureate who was a panelist at the symposium noted that fake news has become a threat to mankind which if not urgently checked, may cause Third World War.

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Trump to cancel planned Davos trip if shutdown continues

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he will not go to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this month if the partial shutdown of the federal government continues. “I intended to go and speak in front of the world financial community in Davos. That’s still on, but if the shutdown continues. I won’t go. I had planned to go; it’s been very successful when I went. “We have a great story to tell,” Trump told reporters before leaving the White House to visit Texas.