These are the stories you should be monitoring today:

Former Governor of Delta, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has formally announced his defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He confirmed his move to the ruling APC at a meeting of the party’s national caucus attended by leaders of the party including national officers, state governors, former state governors, ministers and National Assembly members at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday.

Uduaghan said the APC is the only platform he can achieve his desire to attract development and bring a permanent solution to the Niger Delta crisis, judging from its progressiveness and the leadership style of the president, Muhammadu Buhari.

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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has assured Nigerians workers of the payment of the reviewed minimum wage before the end of 2018.

General Secretary of the congress, Peter Ozo-Esan, who gave this assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja, said that in spite of the delay caused by the Sallah break, the tripartite committee involved with the review of the wage will conclude its work on September 4 and 5.

“We believe that the initial expectation that by September a new minimum wage should come on board, we think that the government still should be able to deliver that to Nigerians.

We expect that the National Assembly will play its part in speedily considering the bill that will be placed before it and do everything possible for Nigerian workers to have a new minimum wage,” he said.

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The Federal Government on Tuesday refuted allegations that it plans to sell the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG).

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, at the opening of a 3-day investigative hearing on the issue at the House of Representatives, said there were no plans as such.

“We are not aware of any plan by the Federal Government to sell NLNG,” he said. Kachikwu was represented at the hearing by a Director in charge of Gas Resources in the Ministry, Esther Ifejika.

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will do everything it can to prevent buying of votes and other forms of electoral malpractices during the 2019 general election.

INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu who disclosed this at meeting with security officials on Tuesday in Abuja, noted that the trend of vote buying is threatening the credibility of elections as he urged security agencies to step up their efforts in ensuring a smooth process in the 2019 general elections.

Yakubu further said officers should be deployed to every polling unit across the country to arrest anyone who attempts to engage in the act.

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National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Amendment.

In a statement on Tuesday by his media aide, Ike Abonyi, the PDP chairman, said there should be no delay in signing the new electoral act because it would deepen the electoral system and ensure faster growth of the country’s democracy.

The statement adds that Secondus who said this while receiving Presidential aspirants on the party’s platform, Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe and former Governor of Sokoto, Attahiru Bafarawa, appealed to all the aspirants to work in harmony in the interest of the party and ensure its victory in 2019.

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And stories from around the world:

The U.S. military has no plans yet to suspend any more major military exercises with South Korea, the defense secretary said on Tuesday, in the middle of a breakdown in diplomacy with North Korea over its nuclear weapons. (Reuters)

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US President Donald Trump has warned Google, Twitter and Facebook they are “treading on troubled territory” amid a row over perceived bias.

He said they had to be “very careful”, after earlier accusing Google of rigging the search results for the phrase “Trump news.” (BBC)

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Iran’s intelligence minister said on Tuesday that “dozens of spies” had been arrested as part of a crackdown on espionage and dual nationals. (AFP)

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Nearly 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico in the six months after Hurricane Maria as a result of the storm, with the elderly and impoverished most affected, according to a long-awaited independent study ordered by the US territory’s government. (Al Jazeera)

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Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan will skip next month’s United Nations General Assembly session to focus his attention on the country’s economy, said his foreign minister. (Reuters)