These are the top five stories you should be monitoring today.

The Nigerian Police Force have charged Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) and three others with criminal conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms before a Federal High Court in Lokoja.

Police spokesman Jimoh Moshood, told newsmen in Lokoja Monday that the case was filed on March 16, following the confession of a “wanted criminal” that the senator gave him arms and cash.

Moshood said the senator failed to cooperate with the police investigators having failed to report for questioning even after the Police wrote to Senate President Bukola Saraki seeking the release of the senator to answer to the allegations.

He is instead replying on Twitter:

Senator Dino Melaye is representing Kogi West! How can he now fund thugs from Kogi East??This lies looks so cheap! Why will force PPRO go all the way to lokoja to parade suspects? This strategy is weak and dead on arrival ~~~

— Senator Dino Melaye (@dino_melaye) March 19, 2018

Nine persons, including a traditional ruler, were killed in attacks on Agbenema, Ajichekpa, Opada and Iyade villages, in Omala Local Government, Kogi.

The Onu of Agbenema, Musa Edibo, and his wife were burnt in the palace, with the home of former vice Chairman of Omala council Adofu Stephen, also torched. Several other houses were burnt.

Former Majority Leader of the House of Assembly Azania Mohammed, who confirmed the incident, said the indigenes were unsure whether or not to call on security operatives for help.

According to The Nation, the herdsmen’s mode of operation is to set houses ablaze and  shoot fleeing inhabitants; slit their throats and cut them with machete.

The governor of Benue, Samuel Ortom has decried the condition and welfare of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), saying he can no longer sleep following incessant herdsmen attacks.

He said: “We are here to show our solidarity with the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). We have continued to work to ensure that peace is restored in sacked communities so that people can go back to their ancestral homes.

“I cannot sleep in the Government House because I think of how you are faring. I think about how over 12,000 of you, in just one camp, are coping outside your homes.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Monday, said N100 billion and a separate $289 million were embezzled by officials of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, a few weeks to the 2015 elections.

Osinbajo made this known while speaking at the 7th Quarterly Business Forum (QBF) held at the State House, Abuja.

The Vice President, who spoke to a cross section of stakeholders in the Nigerian business and economy circle, said the strategic alliance contracts signed by the Jonathan government with the NNPC and NDPC were used to embezzle money by the promoters.

He said, “In one single transaction, a few weeks to the elections in 2015, the sum of N100 billion and $289 million in cash were embezzled by a few. When you consider that in 2014, when oil prices were an average of $110 per barrel, only N99 billion was spent on Power, Works and Housing, and in one day, N100 billion was issued and people essentially shared it and N99 billion was spent on Power, Works and Housing. When we talk about our economy, we talk about it like it is normal but it is abnormal by every standard, completely abnormal. Nobody should talk about the economy when you have these huge leakages and corruption; corruption that makes what you allocate to capital and infrastructure nonsense.”

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has expressed support for auditing and restructuring the existing federal system to give a sense of belonging to all Nigerians.

He said that for true federalism to be achieved in Nigeria, a unique system of federalism that best suited Nigerian people and the local circumstances in the country should be created.

And stories from around the world…

The President of China, Xi Jinping has told the National People’s Congress (NPC) that the country must not become complacent about its development.

Speaking at the closing session of the annual parliament, Xi said China was at a critical stage in its history and only socialism could save it.

He also warned against Taiwanese separatism or attempts to split China.

Xi is now set up to be China’s president for life, after the NPC removed a two-term limit.

Harvey Weinstein‘s former company has filed for bankruptcy, months after the Oscar-winning producer was accused of multiple sexual assaults.

The move by the Weinstein Company is intended to facilitate a buy-out offer from a private equity firm.

The film and TV studio also said it was releasing any victims of Weinstein’s alleged misconduct from non-disclosure deals stopping them from speaking out.

Weinstein, 66, insists sexual relations he had were consensual.

Facebook‘s shares have fallen sharply, wiping $37 billion off the firm’s value, as it faces questions from US and UK politicians about its privacy rules.

The social media giant is under fire after reports on how Cambridge Analytica, which some believe helped US President Donald Trump win the election, acquired and used Facebook’s customer information.

Meanwhile, Cambridge Analytica has boasted of using honey traps, fake news campaigns and operations with ex-spies to swing election campaigns around the world, a new investigation reveals.

Executives from Cambridge Analytica spoke to undercover reporters from Channel 4 News about the dark arts used by the company to help clients, which included entrapping rival candidates in fake bribery stings and hiring prostitutes to seduce them.

In one exchange, the company chief executive, Alexander Nix, is recorded telling reporters: “It sounds a dreadful thing to say, but these are things that don’t necessarily need to be true as long as they’re believed.”

The Trump administration has banned all use by Americans of a Venezuelan cryptocurrency, saying that its introduction is intended to skirt US sanctions. In a separate move, the administration also slapped sanctions on four current and former senior Venezuelan officials accused of corruption and mismanagement.

More than 5 billion people could suffer water shortages by 2050 due to climate change, increased demand and polluted supplies, according to a UN report on the state of the world’s water.

The comprehensive annual study warns of conflict and civilisational threats unless actions are taken to reduce the stress on rivers, lakes, aquifers, wetlands and reservoirs.

The World Water Development Report – released in drought-hit Brasília – says positive change is possible, particularly in the key agricultural sector, but only if there is a move towards nature-based solutions that rely more on soil and trees than steel and concrete.

Omoleye Omoruyi

Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram