The Big 5: Buhari departs for Togo, Nigerians should insist on a healthy President in 2019- PDP I More stories

These are the stories you should be monitoring today:

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Sunday depart Abuja for Lome, the Republic of Togo to participate in a Joint Economic Community of West African States / Economic Community of Central African States Summit.

According to a statement signed on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President will on arrival have an interactive session at the Nigerian embassy with the Nigerian community-based in Togo after which he will attend the summit on Monday.

The summit will deliberate on common security threats to both regions the with a view to forging concerted strategies in tackling the menace of terrorism, trans-border crimes and other forms of violent extremism.


The People’s Democratic Party has accused the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and others, which it did not name, of allegedly exploiting the fragile health of President Muhammadu Buhari to spite Nigerians.

Through its national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, the party in responding to a claim by the Minister that even if Buhari contested from a sickbed in 2019, he would win in some core northern states, asked Nigerians to insist on a healthy president in 2019.

“I know that people like him want a president they can deceive, who will not be on top of happenings in their ministries and in the country.

They want a president who won’t watch television and who will not read newspapers. If that is what they want, they will meet their Waterloo in 2019,” he added in an interview with PUNCH.


 Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has expressed shock about the launch of verbal attacks on him by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Terver Akase, the governor recalled that Oshiomhole on July 19, stressed that the party would do everything to keep him within its fold like a highly valued diamond, adding that the sudden aggression towards him has revealed among other things, the true oppressive intentions of the ruling party APC against Nigerians.

Ortom who noted that “as a former governor, Oshiomhole ought to be statesmanly in his utterances,” urged him to focus on his duties rather than making “divisive” statements.


The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed worries over poor funding ahead of the 2019 general elections following the non-approval of the 2019 election fund requests sent to the National Assembly.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, represented by the Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Samuel Olumeku disclosed this during the State House Press Corps retreat in Lagos.

“As you know, our procurement process is very cumbersome and to make procurement it may take up to four months and this may affect what we are doing at INEC. But we may be forced to look at other sources of funding so that our preparation for the 2019 election is not affected,” he added.


President Muhammadu Buhari has sympathised with the people of Kebbi on the flood disasters that have destroyed their farmlands, homes and led to the loss of crops and property.

The president who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu in a statement signed on Saturday, said he was touched by the sheer scale of the losses suffered by the hard-working farmers in the state and urged the affected farmers not to despair.

He further assured them that they will not be forgotten by the government.


And stories from around the world:

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will stand its ground after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slap sanctions on Ankara if it does not free an American pastor, broadcaster Haberturk reported on Sunday. (Reuters)


Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi has been freed by Israel after eight months in jail for assaulting an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank. (BBC)


A powerful earthquake on the Indonesian tourist island of Lombok killed at least 10 people, injured dozens and damaged hundreds of homes on Sunday, officials said. (AFP)


A US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters says it has agreed to work with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government towards a “democratic, decentralised Syria” after preliminary talks in Damascus. (Aljazeera)


Australia’s conservative government failed to win any of five by-elections held over the weekend, defeats widely seen as an indication Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull faces an uphill battle to be re-elected in a national poll due by May 2019. (Reuters)

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