NRTC WEEKLY: Top 5 trending stories across the country this week 

It’s another edition of NRTC WEEKLY Roundup — in this week’s edition, we are focusing on five trending stories across the country.

As usual, the stories will cut across the top five beats in our media organization, NRTC [your one-stop hub for rich and reliable content covering entertainment, sports, politics, business, and more].

As we all know, a day can’t pass without trending stories and we have tracked many of them for you this week. Why not scroll down and treat yourself? 

Entertainment: Davido’s album break records; politics: Peter Obi and Pastor David Oyedepo leaked conversation; metro: Pasuma loses mum, business: FG $800m Nigerians as palliative for petrol subsidy removal; sport: Chelsea woes are the stories NRTC WEEKLY will be discussing. 

ALSO READ: NRTC WEEKLY: Top 5 trending stories across the country this week 

Entertainment: Davido’s album break records

Last week, NRTC WEEKLY reported that Superstar Afrobeat singer, David Adekele, professionally known as Davido released his fourth album ‘Timeless’ after months of being away from social media.

The album consists of 17 tracks that hit the wave on the 31st of March as well as set the internet buzzing.

NRTC WEEKLY gathered that the album, which served as Davido’s return to social media after months of being off, has broken and set new records for Africa and Nigeria.

The album set a new record on the US iTunes Albums Chart as the first African album in history to reach #1 on US iTunes in the world’s largest music market.

ALSO READ: NRTC WEEKLY: Top 5 trending stories across the country this week

More so, the album Broken Audiomack — an on-demand music streaming and audio discovery platform — recorded over 12 million streams in its first 24 hours, more than any other album on Audiomack ever.

NRTC WEEKLY gathered that the same album set a new record for the most first-day streams by an African album on Apple Music.

In six hours of its release, the much-awaited album, ‘Timeless’, amassed one million streams on Boomplay, the no. 1 album on Nigeria’s Top Albums Chart, and UK’s Top Albums Chart, as well as in 17 other countries on Apple Music.

NRTC WEEKLY findings showed that the music is still making waves as fans continue streaming the music. 

Business: FG $800m Nigerians as palliative for petrol subsidy removal

Three days ago, the federal government said it has secured the sum of $800 million from the World Bank, as part of its post-subsidy palliative plans.

The Minister of Finance, budget, and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, revealed this after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday.

According to FG the $800m will be disbursed to 50m Nigerians as palliative for petrol subsidy removal.

Immediately after the announcement, Nigerians have taken to their social media handles to express their readiness of receiving their part of the money. 

NRTC WEEKLY gathered that some Netizens calculated the money by the number of citizens in the country and were able to arrive at a certain amount that’ll go to individual accounts.

“Ordinary coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) palliatives were stored in houses and shops without giving it out to hungry Nigerians. 

“This money will be kept in banks and for a few years, it’ll be used to buy people’s votes. There’s no way this country can move forward without transparency.” Netizens stated.

Politics: Peter Obi and Pastor David Oyedepo leaked conversation

As a conversant Nigerian with the latest happenings in the country or active on social media platforms, “Yes Daddy, Yes Daddy” should not be a new thing to him or her.

This week, the audio phone conversation between the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, and the founder of Living Faith Church or Winners Chapel, David Oyedepo surfaced online.

The conversation between the two was about the just concluded February 25th presidential election. During the conversation, Obi was heard persuading Pastor Oyedepo to convince his church members to vote for him.

NRTC WEEKLY listened to the voice note and heard Obi saying it was a religious war, saying that Pastor Oyedepo should talk to Christians in the southeast and southwest to vote for him.

The voice note generated arguments across the length and breadth of the country, especially the main opposition parties accusing Obi of treason. 

Many Nigerians condemned Obi’s action while some tagged the audio as fake. “It was All Progressive Congress (APC) handiwork — they’re looking for ways to truncate the tribunal and arrest Obi,” Netizens added.

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has refuted reports of alleged complicity of the commission in the leaked audio conversation between the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Mr. Peter Obi and the founder of the Living Faith Church, Bishop David Oyedepo.

Also, Pastor Oyedepo and Obi tagged the leaked conversation as doctored and fake news.

Metro: Pasuma loses mum

On Thursday, Fuji music star, Wasiu Alabi, known as Pasuma, announced the death of his mummy, Alhaja Adijat Kuburat.

Pasuma via his verified Instagram page described her late mummy as his jewel, saying he will miss her forever.

He said words fail him but she should continue watching over him from heaven.

Tears flowed freely on Friday, as Alhaja Kuburat was laid to rest in an Islamic way. Present at the burial were celebrities, NRTC WEEKLY gathered.

Some celebrities via their social media handles condoled the singer, urging him to take solace in God, the one that gives and takes.

Sport: Lampard returns to Chelsea 

Frank Lampard was appointed by Chelsea football club as an interim manager following the sack of Graham Potter.

Lampard was a former Chelsea manager before the Todd Boehly-led consortium completed a £4.25bn takeover of Chelsea, ending Roman Abramovich’s 19-year ownership of the club.

Lampard was sacked by the former owner of the club after an 18-month contract of not being able to meet the results and performances of the club’s expectations, hence, he must leave the club to sustain improvement.

Thomas Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard, but the same Tuchel was sacked and was replaced by Graham Potter. Since the sack of Tuchel, the club had been struggling to win matches.

Lampard, when he was sacked stated that “I am disappointed not to have had the time this season to take the club forward and bring it to the next level”, but now that he had been appointed, let’s see the magic he will perform.

NRTC WEEKLY findings show that many fans of the club are not happy with the owner’s decision of appointing Lampard as Interim Manager. They said that if care is not taken, Lampard will drag them to relegation as he almost did for Everton this season before he was sacked.

Some were optimistic, he[Lampard] will pull magic, make the top four, beat Bayern Munich, and lift the Champion League Cup for them.

Here, the cotton of this week’s episode of NRTC WEEKLY will drop. Join us for another edition next week as we take you around the trending lists in Nigeria.