These are the stories that drove the conversation today:

Authorities of the FCT Emergency Management Agency and the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) have on Friday, allayed the fears of Abuja residents over speculations of an imminent earthquake in the Federal Capital Territory.

The development followed several reports by residents of the city about persistent earth shakings in parts of the Federal Capital Territory, over the last three days.

Read full story here: #AbujaTremors: There’s no cause for alarm – Authorities assure FCT residents

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After days of speculations about his movement to the ruling  All Progressives Congress (APC), former Kano Governor and chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Ibrahim Shekarau has on Friday, joined the broom party which he co-founded in 2014.

National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who led a delegation of bigwigs of the party to formally meet Shekarau at his Mundubawa residence in Kano, said “We have come to reunite with a friend, Comrade and a real Progressive in order to move our party forward,” expressing optimism that his defection to the party would strengthen the party in the state and the country at large.

The former Education minister in response said: “Our coming together will not only move Kano state forward but the country as a whole.”

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The Presidency has handed over 19 official vehicles retrieved from former commissioners of the National Population Commission (NPopC) who allegedly made away with them after their tenures in office.

Chairman of the Special Presidential Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Okoi Obono-Obla, who perfomed the brief hand over ceremony on Friday at the office of the commission in Abuja, said the recovery of the vehicles meant for operations of the commission, followed a tip-off by a member of staff of the commission to the panel in March.

Obono-Obla stressed that the event should be a warning to all other public servants, including himself, to desist from converting official property to personal use, adding that the Buhari government would not tolerate such acts.

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The Buhari Campaign Organisation has faulted the call by the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to note that the purchase of the N45 million form by a group for President Muhammadu Buhari directly violates section 91 (9) of the Electoral Act. 

Director, Strategic Communications of the Campaign Organisation, Festus Keyamo (SAN) disclosed this on Friday in a series of tweets, berating the PDP as mischievous persons misquoting the law which provides that “no individual or other entity shall donate more than One million naira (#1,000,000) to any candidate,” as the President was yet to become a candidate.

He further “urged the PDP to charge INEC to, within the next 24 hours, hold President Buhari culpable and make him to face the appropriate sanctions for the violation of electoral laws”

Some mischievous persons are reading S. 91(9) of the Electoral Act upside down. The section limits CASH (not material) donations in respect of CANDIDATES to N1m. PMB is not a CANDIDATE. He’s an aspiring ASPIRANT. He becomes an ASPIRANT only when he submits his Forms to his Party

— Festus Keyamo, SAN (@fkeyamo) September 7, 2018

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has assured the public that it had adequate storage of petroleum products across the country and advised that they should not entertain any fear of petroleum shortages.

A statement by the spokesman of the corporation, Ndu Ughamadu, in Abuja, on Friday read that there is no need for panic buying of petroleum products by motorists and the public, as the corporation’s management were engaging the parties involved and the parties are close to resolving the issues.

The statement by the NNPC, followed reports of an ultimatum issued by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) over a purported intervention by an arm of the military in what the union viewed as purely labour matters involving a company and its workers in Delta.

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And stories from around the world:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected Turkey’s calls for a truce to prevent a “bloodbath” in north Syria.

At a trilateral meeting with Iran and Turkey, Mr Putin said Russia would continue its fight against “terrorists” in Idlib province. (BBC)

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Indian and American officials signed an agreement on secure military communications following talks between top officials, which analysts say will open the door for the sale of sensitive US military hardware to New Delhi.  (Al Jazeera)

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Families who were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration and then reunited with their children say they are suffering deep emotional wounds and want the U.S. government to pay for mental health treatment to remedy the situation. (Associated Press)

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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which he believes will be positive, is on its way to him, a day after expressing fresh optimism about a denuclearization deal. (Reuters)

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Myanmar on Friday “resolutely” rejected a ruling by the International Criminal Court empowering the tribunal to probe alleged crimes against the Rohingya even though the Southeast Asian nation is not a member of it. (AFP)