Obafemi Martins, Grammys, Daddy Freeze and Coming 2 America are Nigeria’s Most-Googled Topics in March

Okay, March was packed with very interesting happenings back to back. Big fund raises, International Women’s Day, the Grammy Awards and the CBN’s naira for dollar initiative. As usual, Google still remains the number one search engine for finding out what’s going on and it reflects what people were most interested in.

For the month of March, here are the topics that received the most attention for Nigerians.

International Women’s Day (200K+)

International Women’s Day celebrated globally on March 8. To commemorate the day, Facebook launched its book, LeadHers, which chronicled the stories of 19 African women leading in their different ventures. The book featured Tara Durotoye and Temie Giwa-Tubosun from Nigeria among the African women.

Google also announced its $25 million Global Impact Challenge for women-led businesses. International Women’s Day amassed more than 200,000 queries on Google.

Suggested Read: #IWD2021: 5 Women in Tech Challenging the Odds to Look Out for

Mother’s Day (35K+ searches)

Nigeria celebrated Mothers Day on March 14. This special day, also known as Mothering Sunday, is when Nigerians traditionally honour mothers in appreciation for all they do. Everyone from celebrities and corporates to religious organisations joined in the celebration.

Mother’s Day drew 10,000+ searches, Happy Mother’s Day got 20,000+ searches and Mothering Sunday also got over 5000. Altogether, the celebration resulted in more than 35,000 searches on Google.

Coming to America 2 (50K+ searches)

Eddie Murphy and the Coming to America cast returned for the sequel that hit the box office this March. Although there were not-so-great reviews about the movie, it still generated sufficient attention and patronage at the cinemas. In Nigeria alone, Coming to America 2 was searched for over 50,000 times.

While the movie features top names like Arsenio Hall and Wesley Snipes, Nigerians were more interested in the role played by multi-award winning singer, Davido. The Nigerian artiste made his international debut appearance with a cameo in the Hollywood comedy.

You can read our full review of the movie here: Coming 2 America: Eddie Murphy’s Return to New York is Nostalgic but has a Boring Twist

Grammy Awards 2021 (200K+ searches)

The biggest entertainment awards, Grammy awards, amassed more than 1 million streams from across the globe. It was live-streamed because of concerns about covid-19.

Popular Nigerian artiste, Burna Boy made history at the event by becoming the first musician from the country to win a Grammy award for their own work. His hit album Twice as Tall won Best Global Music Album at the 2021 Grammys.

Wizkid also won an award for his supporting role in Beyonce’s Black Skin Girl music video while Tiwa Savage, Femi Kuti and Made Kuti were also recognized as partial nominees for their contribution to Coldplay’s Everyday Life. The Coldplay album was nominated for the Album of the Year award.

Champions League draw (100k+ searches)

Football is a sport many people are passionate about, especially in Africa’s most populous country. Several matches led people to Google Search but the Champions League Draw led to the highest search volume for football topics.

In the quarter-final draw, Manchester City drew Borussia Dortmund, Porto and Chelsea were paired, Bayern Munich drew Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid got Liverpool.

Obafemi Martins (20K+ searches)

Sometime in March, Burna Boy was alleged to have disrespected former Inter Milan and Super Eagles Forward, Obafemi Martins. According to rapper, CDQ who made the allegation while calling out Burna Boy on Twitter, “I still can’t phantom this. An artist just disrespected Obagoal on 100% thinking he’s now bigger n say e don get mouth pass Obafemi Martins.”

“And I imagine how he was able to go back home n sleep comfortably without conscience in this same Lagos. Igbagbè manshe awa eda ooo (we humans are quick to forget).

“Burna for the first time I’m disappointed in u! U and ur boys need to go apologize to Obagoal now!

“No let dem dey deceive u wit ur village title say african gi-ant com dey disrespect Oba. Eko lonpe bi. Obafemi Martins is not anybody’s mate. If we dey cry make we dey see.”

You can trust that Nigerians wanted more scoop on the issue. The search for Obafemi Martins was more than 20,000 on Google.

Piers Morgan (10k+ searches)

Piers Morgan is a British Presenter, or at least was one before he quit his job after refusing to apologize to Meghan Markle. Markle is an American former actress who married into the British Royal Family and currently is the Duchess of Sussex.

She had an interview with Oprah Winfrey where she admitted that she had wrestled with suicidal thoughts and no one in the royal institution helped her. Assessing Markle’s admission on his Good Morning Britain show on ITV, Morgan said, “Who did you go to? What did they say to you? I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she said, Meghan Markle. I wouldn’t believe it if she read me a weather report.”

The bosses at ITV asked Morgan to apologize to Markle on-air following thousands of complaints that were received on the matter and he refused. He quit his position and held to the claim that he is entitled to his opinion.

Daddy Freeze (5K+ searches)

On-air-personality, Ifedayo Olarinde also known as Daddy Freeze, made the news when an Abuja-based court fined him the sum of N5 million for committing adultery. He committed the infamous act with Benedicta Elechi and was ordered to pay the fine to Mr Odekina. Odekina was husband to Elechi when Daddy Freeze committed the act with her.

The court ruling read in part, “The sum of N5,000,000 is awarded against Ifedayo Olarinde (the 2nd Cross Respondent to the Cross Petition) as damages for depriving the Cross Petitioner of the amiable consort of his wife (Petitioner/1st Cross Respondent) and for the injury suffered as a result of his adultery with the Petitioner/Cross Respondent.

“An Order of Injunction is hereby granted, preventing Ifedayo Olarinde ― the Co-Respondent to the Cross Petition ― from having access or dealing whatsoever with the children of the marriage until they attain the age of majority.”

Daddy freeze is popular for criticizing the collection of tithes and offerings in churches and his adulterous act as well as the court ruling generated interest from people. It resulted in more than 5,000 searches.

That ends it for March. You can also read our roundup of fundings that were raised by startups in Africa for the month here.