Twenty-two-year-old Nigerian weightlifter, Adijat Olarinoye, kicked off the social media trends last week as she joined other Nigerians in making the country proud after winning the country’s first gold medal at the ongoing 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

On July 31, Olarinloye set a new record of 203kg for accumulated lifts in the women’s 55kg weightlifting event.

She also set the game’s record in the snatch category after lifting 92kg for her second lift.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria also recently overtook South Africa to become the leading African team on the medals table at the ongoing Commonwealth Games with 30 medals

On Monday, veteran actor Zack Orji began to trend after voicing his support for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Sen.Bola Tinubu.

Nigerians on the popular social media platform, Twitter, immediately pounced on him, accusing him of doing a paid campaign while some others said he had his right to choose a candidate.

Isaac Oladipupo, @isaacafrica_ said, “Whether that disturbing Zack Orji’s video for Tinubu is based on paid endorsement or personal interest, we shouldn’t bully anyone over their choice of candidate.

“Let’s focus on not losing focus. When Peter Obi wins, gbogbo won ma wa alright (They’ll all be alright).”

In what seemed like a calculated response, veteran actor, Nkem Owoh, also began to trend on Tuesday, following reports that he rejected N10 million and refused to campaign for the APC.

“Not everybody is amenable to the persuasiveness of money, the will of the people should prevail,” Owoh reportedly said.

On the same day, Nigerian actress and television personality, Nancy Isime, revealed that she had bagged her first acting role in a Bollywood movie.

Sharing the post on her Instagram page, Isime wrote, “Guys!!! I can’t keep calm. #NancylsGoingTolndia !!!! I’m excited to announce that I’m part of the cast of a new project by EP/Director extraordinaire @HamishaDaryaniAhuja .

“This is super exciting for me because I get to immerse myself in a different culture and explore my acting range.

“It’s also exciting because i know that i can count on your support to cheer me on throughout the process. I’m not going to ask if you’re ready, because i know you’re ready! Let’s go!!!.”

Nancy Isime’s colleagues and friends including actress Adesuwa Etomi and media mogul, Mo Abudu, immediately congratulated the actress on the good news.

On Wednesday, Nigerian singer, Abiola Akinbiyi, popularly known as Bella Shmurda, signed to Win More Empire, released a track from his upcoming album titled “New Born Fela”.

Bella Shmurda after sharing a video of the song where he was surrounded by many ladies who he insinuated were his new wives, began to trend.

Shmurda also shared a picture of the ladies in a wedding gown and captioned it “back from the registry with my remaining 27 wives and we lived happily ever after.”

Nigerians could not hold their anticipation of the new season of the English Premiere League as the first football match of the season between Crystal Palace and Arsenal gathered about 200 thousand searches.

The match which was later played on Friday ended in favour of Arsenal with 2 -0 after Gabriel Martinelli scored the first goal and Marc Guehi scored an own goal.

On Friday, Nigerian singer signed to YBNL record label, Adedamola Adefolarin, popularly known as Fireboy, released his 14 -track album titled “PLAYBOY”.

Fireboy shared the album art on his Instagram page with the caption, “love and appreciation to every one of these genius minds who worked with me on this project, and to my teams at YBNL and Empire. see yall tomorrow.”

On Saturday, entertainment news from the foreign scene trickled in that American socialite, Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend, Pete Davidson had ended their relationship after dating for nine months.

Sources said the duo had a lot of love and respect for each other but found that the long distance dynamic and their demanding schedules made it really difficult to maintain a relationship

Nigerian sportswomen appear to be proving that what men can do – or the ones they can’t – women can do better.

Days after the Super Falcons qualified for the World Cup where the Super Eagles failed and Tobi Amusan broke world hurdles record, weightlifter Adijat Olarinoye beat others in the women’s 55kg category to win the first gold for Nigeria at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and set a new Games record on Saturday.
Olarinoye lifted 92kg in snatch and 111kg in clean and jerk, making 203kg in total to set a new Games record in the category.

She missed out on the bronze medal by just a kilogramme, after lifting 75kg in the snatch and 95kg in the snatch and jerk for a total 170kg.

Canada’s Hannah Kaminski picked the bronze medal with a lift of 171kg, after Chanu Mirabai of India won gold with 201kg and Marie Ranaivosoa of Mauritius won silver with 172kg.
In the men’s 61kg category, Emmanuel Appah finished out of the medals range.
This was after a total of 245kg placed him fifth, with 110 kg in snatch and 135kg in clean and jerk.

Nigerian Weightlifters returned home with nine medals at the just concluded International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships and Commonwealth Games qualifiers which held in Uzbekistan.

A total of seven Nigerian lifters, made up of five women and two men represented the country in the 10-day events.

Abdul Ibrahim, President of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF), told newsmen on Friday in Abuja that the lifters would continue to win medals any time they represented Nigeria.

He praised the lifters for the great achievements they recorded in the championships.

“We won nine medals and I am very happy about this. We showcased what we have achieved in a short time.

“This is just a new beginning, we are going to achieve more than this. It’s not going to be achieved easily but we are going to be well prepared,” he said.

Ibrahim said the federation would organise a training course for coaches and improve their welfare and that of athletes.

He said next year the federation would participate in Africa weightlifting qualifier in Mauritius.

“We will prepare some other qualified athletes and also make sure that we put our eyes on these current athletes who made Nigeria proud in the just concluded championships.

“We are not going to relax but we are going to continue our training. We are going back to the camp and we will all go back and watch our video clips and see where we can improve on the coaching.

On his part, the Technical Director of NWF, Christopher Nwadei, said the competition was very tough and pointed out that many athletes from various countries had improved a lot.

“We thank God for the little preparation we did and you must be aware that almost 70 countries participated in the championships.

“All the athletes were in high spirit, there was no distractions and we got there and did what we knew how to do best,” he said.

He said the Nigerian team won four out of the 10 gold medals at the Commonwealth qualifiers.

“We won two sliver and three bronze medals at the World Championships.

“Stella Kingsley competing in the 50kg won the gold medal in her category.

“Adijat Olarinoye won a gold medal in the Commonwealth qualifiers and silver medal in World Championships and two bronze medals in the 59 kg.

“Joy Eze competed in 71-kg category, won a gold medal and also won sliver in World Championships.

Team Coach Helen Idahosa, a Super Heavyweight Olympian in year 2000, said she knew the game and knew what it takes to motivate a lifter to give his best.

“I know what it takes to motivate an athlete during the competition and that was what I did,“ she said.

NAN reports that the IWF World Championships and Commonwealth Senior Championships which started on Dec. 7 ended on Dec. 17 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.