These are the stories you should be monitoring today:

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has denied involvement in vote buying at the Ekiti governorship election held on July 14.

In a statement by the party’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP insisted that “It never bought any vote at the July 14, governorship election in Ekiti state like the APC did and the leadership of the party will never allow such practice under any guise.

“No circumstance will push us to descend to buy votes in any election, no matter the machination of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” the party said.

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The Imo State House of Assembly has officially served an impeachment notice on the Deputy Governor of the state, Prince Eze Madumere.

The impeachment notice, signed by the Speaker and 13 other lawmakers was on Tuesday served on the deputy governor through substituted means (newspaper publications) in Owerri.

As reported by PUNCH, the notice of gross misconduct was also pasted at the entrance door to the office of the deputy governor on Tuesday afternoon.

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The House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Financial Crimes to investigate the management and disbursement of the recovered funds and assets in the last 12 years.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said this on Tuesday at a one-day public hearing by the House Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Finance, on “the Status of Recovered Public Funds and Assets Since 1999,” whose total value since 1999 is estimated at US$2 trillion dollars.

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National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has thrown his weight behind the decision of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) to approve a direct primary for the party’s governorship nomination in Osun.

In a statement in Lagos on Tuesday by his Media Officer, Tunde Rahman, entitled ‘Internal Democracy: Improving the Nomination Process’, Tinubu said the decision was a ground-breaking step, as it affirmed the party’s democratic inclinations and it will deepen internal democracy in the party.

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Ebonyi Governor, David Umahi on Tuesday, made clarifications about his reported intention to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the country.

The Governor who made the clarifications while briefing newsmen at the Exco Chambers of the Government House  Abakaliki, stressed that there was no reason for him to dump PDP from which he has benefitted immensely as former State party chairman, former deputy governor and now governor, adding that his relationship with the President is because of the respect for the office and as such remained personal.

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And stories from around the world:

US President Donald Trump has said he accepts US intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election – despite declining to do so just a day ago.

He said he had misspoken on Monday and had meant to say he saw no reason why it was not Russia that meddled. (BBC)

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Iran has filed a lawsuit against the United States alleging that Washington’s decision in May to impose sanctions after pulling out of a nuclear deal violates a 1955 treaty between the two countries, the International Court of Justice said on Tuesday. (Reuters)

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Twelve boys and their football coach rescued from a cave in Thailand will leave hospital Wednesday and speak to the media for the first time, a government spokesman said.

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Colombia’s right-wing President-elect Ivan Duque announced a controversial appointment as defense minister on Tuesday, choosing a vocal critic of the 2016 peace agreement with FARC rebels. (AFP)

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Barack Obama has delivered a stinging rebuke to his successor as US president, condemning politicians who trade in the politics of fear and deny objective reality and, when caught in a lie, double down.

In what has been described as his most important speech since leaving office, Obama used the Nelson Mandela annual lecture in front of an ecstatic 15,000-strong crowd in Johannesburg to warn that “the politics of fear, resentment, retrenchment” are on the move “at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago.” (The Guardian, UK).