Search engine giant, Google, has declared Mr. Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State and Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the forthcoming 2023 general elections, as the most popular personality in Nigeria in the first half of 2022, in terms of the number of searches carried out on him by interested persons.
In a statement on Thursday, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Communications and Public Relations Manager, Google West Africa, highlighted the top personalities, music, movies, high-profile deaths as well as sports that trended in the first half of 2022.
Kola-Ogunlade said such trends and searches were a result of happenings and events of interest that caught people’s attention.
According to him, three trending people in Nigeria in the first half of the year were Mr. Peter Obi, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Bianca Ojukwu.
Mr. Obi, a Nigerian businessman and politician who served as Governor of Anambra from 2006 to 2014, is currently the Labour Party (LP) nominee for President of Nigeria in the 2023 presidential election.
Kola-Ogunlade said Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President, also grabbed the attention of Nigerians in the first six months of 2022 as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine became topical across the globe.
“Bianca Ojukwu, the widow of late Biafran warlord, Chukuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu also led search interest by Nigerians when she slapped Ebelechukwu, the wife of the immediate past Governor of Anambra, Chief Willie Obiano,” Kola-Ogunlade added.
“A second famous slap comes in at number five on the list of top trending people, after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars in March.
“AFCON 2022 topped the list of most searched moments between January and June, Senegal beat Egypt in the final match of the African Cup of Nation (AFCON) football competition to emerge winner.’’
The ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has seen the majority of Nigerian students in public tertiary institutions staying out of classes, Kola-Ogunlade observed, pointing out that staying out of classes for five months was also a top moment that captured the interest of Nigerians online.
He said top on the list of notable deaths was the death of popular Nigerian Gospel singer, Osinachi Nwachukwu, noting that the death of another gospel singer, Chinedu Nwadike, was the second most searched death for Nigerians.
He said Buga, the song by Kizz Daniel, featuring Tekno, was the number one trending song in the period under review.
The communication officer said that Blood Sisters, a Nigerian series on Netflix starring Nancy Isime and Ini Dima-Okojie topped the list of top trending movies and TV Series by Nigerians from January to June 2022.
Similarly, Kola-Ogunlade said, Olu Jacobs, the veteran Nollywood actor who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, led the list of top trending actors in Nigeria while Raheem Sterling’s journey from Manchester City to Chelsea FC led him to be the number one trending sports personality in Nigeria.
The search trends information is gleaned from data collated by Google based on what Nigerians have been searching for and asking Google.
