These are the stories you should be monitoring today:

President Muhammadu Buhari will from August 3, begin a 10-day working holiday in London. 

“In compliance with Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, a letter has been transmitted to the President of the Senate, and the Speaker, House of Representatives to that effect,” Presidential media adviser, Femi Adesina said on Wednesday.

The statement adds that, while the President is on vacation, the Vice President will be act as President.

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The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the powers of the National Assembly to make laws including the Bill amending the sequence of elections.

A four-member panel of justices presided over by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa on Wednesday dismissed the judgement of a Federal High Court in Abuja, which on April 25 stopped the National Assembly from overiding the assent of the president in the Bill.

The appellate court held that the decision of the trial court in delving into the matter amounted to a breach of the Doctrine of Separation of Powers, as having not signed the Bill into law, it remains within the powers of the National Assembly as provided in Section 4(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which the court has no jurisdiction over.

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The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that the defection of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is a great relief to the party.

The Minister who disclosed this on Wednesday after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC), meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said “ If we didn’t gain by having our member as Senate President, we stand to lose nothing by losing him,” stressing that Saraki had become a stumbling block to the government.

“If Senate President Bukola Saraki were not a member of the APC, the party and the government could not have suffered more than they had already done, with regards to the delay in passing the budget, approving key appointments and so on,”  Mohammed added.

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The leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara led by the state Chairman, Iyiola Oyedepo, have announced their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Rex Olawoye, who made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilorin on Wednesday, described Senate President Bukola Saraki as an “anathema,” adding that PDP members in the state could not work with him.

According to Olawoye, with the defection, all political structures of the PDP at the ward, local government and state levels had moved to the APC.

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Eighteen of the 30 members of the Sokoto House of Assembly have defected from the All Progressive Congress (APC) to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

In announcing their decision on Wednesday, Speaker of the Assembly, Salihu Maidaji who noted that the 18 of them belonged to the faction of the APC-led by Alhaji Buba Galadima, said efforts to bring sanity into the APC and unite the different groups, camps and factions have proved abortive.

“The election is around the corner and we stand in danger if we remained in a party that is divided against itself,” he added.

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And stories from around the world:

A government crackdown in Zimbabwe after Monday’s elections has prompted international calls for restraint.

The UN and former colonial power the UK both expressed concern about the violence, in which three people were killed after troops opened fire. (BBC)

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