WHAT’S NEWS? October 18, 2023.
By Ezinwanne Onwuka
● Rema’s “Calm Down” departs the Billboard Hot 100 after a 57-week run
Nigerian singer Rema’s remixed single “Calm Down” with American singer Selena Gomez has fallen off the Billboard Hot 100 after spending a record-breaking 57 weeks on the chart. “It made history, becoming the longest charting and most successful African song of all time,” the music monitoring platform Chart Data said Tuesday on X.
Calm Down made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 2021, seven months after its release. It broke the 35-week record held by fellow Nigerian Afrobeats star Wizkid’s “Essence.” The song also achieved several other significant milestones. In September, it became the most streamed Afrobeats song with a billion streams on Spotify.
“Calm Down” is the first song to spend a year on the Billboard Afrobeats chart and with 674 million views the song is the most-watched Afrobeats music video on YouTube. The song also won the inaugural Best Afrobeats award at the MTV VMA Awards last month, beating other popular Afrobeats artists such as Burna Boy, Davido and Wizkid.
Read the full story: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67130859.amp
● Nigerian Army sets up 55-member peace committee in Plateau
The Nigerian Army, on Tuesday [Oct. 17], inaugurated a 55-member committee in Jos, the Plateau State capital, to find a lasting solution to the myriad of security challenges in the Middle Belt State. The committee will implement the recommendations of the 36-member committee set up in September 2022.
Rising armed banditry poses a crisis in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region. An unprecedented wave of kidnappings, maiming, killings, population displacements, cattle rustling, and disruption of socio-economic activities has called into question whether the causes of the bloodshed have been accurately diagnosed. Think tanks such as the International Crisis Group insist that killings are due to a land-use contest rated six times deadlier than the Boko Haram insurgency. Yet other scholarly sources dispute that claim, pointing to open grazing policies abetted by lack of law enforcement by complicit authorities.
Commander of the “Operation Safe Haven [OPSH]” Major General Abdusalam Abubakar said members of the peace committee, drawn from Mangu, Barkin Ladi, Bokkos, Bassa, Jos South, and Riyom Counties of the State, would work to achieve lasting solutions to the incessant clashes and killings in the state through dialogue and community engagement. The general also warned citizens against harbouring criminals causing havoc in the State.
Read the military’s press statement: https://army.mil.ng/?p=7200
● Gunmen kidnap lawmaker’s wife and children
A gang of armed bandits have abducted the wife and two children of Lawal Ayanshola Soliu, a senior member of the Nigerian ruling All Progressive Congress [APC] in north central Kwara State, the second time the lawmaker’s family has been abducted in a year. In September 2022, Soliu’s wife and son were kidnapped but subsequently freed after the payment of an undisclosed ransom.
The victims were kidnapped at about 1:00 a.m. on Monday [Oct. 16] after the kidnappers, armed to the teeth with AK-47 rifles, stormed the politician’s residence in the Moro County of Kwara State. Upon invading the residence, the gunmen shot sporadically to scare away likely rescuers and instill fear in their victims, according to Nigerian media.
Police spokesperson Okasanmi Ajayi confirmed the abduction on Tuesday. The leader of the State’s vigilantes, the Nigerian-speak for volunteer citizen guards, Alhaji Ibrahim Saka said citizen guards are combing nearby bushes to rescue the victims.
Read the full story: https://dailytrust.com/kwara-gunmen-break-into-lawmakers-residence-abduct-wife-children/
● Bandits kill 3, abduct 50 in Zamfara
A Tuesday raid on Bagega village in Anka County of Zamfara State in Northwest Nigeria led to the death of three persons and the abduction of at least 50 people, including the district head, Hussaini Sarkin-Gabas. Two policemen and several other residents were shot, and all were critically wounded.
Residents told Reuters that the gunmen stormed the village on motorbikes, shooting sporadically and setting houses ablaze. Residents were forced to scamper for safety, some of whom are still missing. Authorities are yet to confirm the attack.
The latest attack poses a new challenge to President Bola Tinubu, who extended the ruling party’s reign with his election victory in February after pledging to solve Nigeria’s security crisis. The Zamfara State Government, in June, said it would not negotiate with bandits terrorizing the state and vowed to eliminate them.
Read the full story: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/gunmen-kill-three-kidnap-least-50-northwest-nigeria-say-residents-2023-10-17/
● Lawmaker’s daughter murdered in Borno
Hoodlums have reportedly killed Fatima Alhaji Bukar, the daughter of a Nigerian lawmaker in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. Bukar was murdered at her residence Tuesday evening in her husband’s absence.
The husband returned from the mosque and found her lifeless body inside the house with her hands and legs tied. Police said a “discreet investigation” has commenced on the matter.
The Northeast State is the hotbed for Islamic insurgency and the epicenter of a 14-year war on terror in Nigeria that has spilled into neighbouring Chad, Niger, and Cameroon.
Read the full story: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/10/breaking-borno-lawmakers-daughter-murdered-in-maiduguri/
