Below The Headlines - 21

More Missing Manhoods and 3,000 people wanted to watch Rema in Israel but could not

Welcome to another week of moving past the headlines and going to find the hidden stories about Nigerians in Nigeria and around the world. This was a quiet week on 1914 Reader as Tobi and I didn’t put out any pieces. But we will be back next week.

In the meantime here is a random but fun economic fact for you - Gala had its best ever month of sales in its 62 year history in Nigeria in August of this year. Make of that what you will.

Inside Nigeria

An incredible sentence: “An 18-year-old pregnant housewife, Khadija Adamu, has been arrested by the Bauchi State Police Command for beating her five-year-old step-daughter to death for defecating on her body” - Vanguard

Another internet fraud case featuring sums that are surely obtainable from honest work: “The judge sentenced Kolawole to six months imprisonment with option of N500,000 fine and ordered that one iPhone 12 and $200 be forfeited to the federal government.” - Guardian

Also in Kaduna: “The judge ordered Omeka to forfeit one iPhone 11 to the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Mendos also forfeited one iPhone 11, Andrew forfeited one iPhone 12 and restituted the sum of $120 to his victim, while Prince forfeited one iPhone 6s to the government. He was also ordered to restitute the sum of $50 to the victim through the EFCC” - Daily Post

Nigerian Police have been exemplary in this missing manhood pandemic: “OPERATIVES of the Delta State Police Command, have arrested three siblings for their alleged participation in the mobbing of a 68-year-old woman at Asaba, the State capital. The suspects who had accused the woman of being responsible for the alleged disappearance of the penis of one of them, pounced on her at Asaba on Sunday alongside others who are now at large” - Vanguard

However in Bauchi (it is casually mentioned at the end of this story that a ‘suspect’ was beaten to death): “Yonana told journalists that he was paraded alongside his colleague at the police headquarters on Tuesday in Bauchi, saying, “It is true that I steal the manhood of a man. We apply spiritual charms on our palms and whoever we shake hands with, his penis will be removed. I shook hands with the victim in Nabardo and stole his penis. When I stole the penis, I handed it over to my colleague, Birtus, for onward delivery to our boss, Yonana Abubakar.” - Daily Trust

The traditional rule of Karu in Nassarawa State recently had this to say: “We have a duty to talk to our people so we know how to manage these issues of stolen genitals, so we don’t take laws into our hands. I urge every representative, especially the chairman of the motorcycle/tricycle riders association to pass the message to their people” - Punch

Latest mass wedding in Kano saw the governor pay the bride price of N50,000 for each of the 1,800 grooms while the former governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, stood in as trustee for each bride: “The couples, who are mostly previously divorced, are members of the Kwankwasiyya – a political movement founded by Mr Kwankwaso. They were selected by the state’s Hisbah board (moral police)” - Premium Times

The numbers shared by transporters in this piece about how the removal of fuel subsidies has made their business near impossible are quite shocking. Only people who seem to have not suffered in the transport ecosystem are agberos: “Before, with about N4,000 worth of fuel, you could make a return trip between the Tollgate and Oshodi, but now, you have to spend N12,000 on fuel for just a trip. That does not include what we give to agberos and LASTMA officials. They are never bothered about our plight; all they are after is money” - Tribune

Innocent men in Lagos just minding their business and going about their law abiding duty are coming under attack. This is because commercial sex workers have ‘invaded’ Lagos malls and are now luring men at an alarming rate: “One of our correspondents who visited ICM around 10pm on Saturday was accosted by no fewer than three different young ladies in revealing and sexually enticing blouses” - Punch

It is not too late to wish the President’s son a very happy birthday. So that - as the new prayer goes - this government can favour you and your family: “For Seyi Tinubu, the son of President Bola Tinubu, who turned 38 today, it is a day to reminisce the philanthropic focus of an entrepreneur who has in the last few years busied himself with the issues that bother the masses most. The Seyi I know is a textbook example of how a man can successfully pursue an onerous career and yet manage to serve society in ways that bring relief to those that need it most” - ThisDay

This is a good idea and an example of the education palliative I’ve been crying out for in this newsletter: “As part of its policy to promote girls’ attendance in school, the Bauchi State will pay 16,260 girls in secondary schools across the state, N5,000 and NN10,000 per term. The conditional payment is part of the state’s Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment(AGILE) programme” - Premium Times

Outside Nigeria

Taiye Selasi, author of Ghana Must Go, is developing a comedy drama set in Lagos titled Victoria Island. I will be there no matter what: “The hour-long project follows the adventures of a Nigerian-American woman who returns to Lagos, newly married to an oil billionaire, and launches an event planning company with the help of her friends in the home of the world’s most spectacular events” - Deadline

A really terrible story about how modelling agencies recruit models from refugee camps in Africa includes this bit: “He was joined at the hotel by Joan Okorodudu, a Nigerian businesswoman who runs an agency called Isis Models from her terraced home in Walthamstow, northeast London, where she houses some of the refugee models brought over from Kenya” - The Times

This happened in September and 3,000 people had bought tickets: “A Tel Aviv concert by Rema was canceled Friday due to safety concerns, an hour before the Nigerian rapper and singer was set to go on stage” - Times of Israel

Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption is setting up an academy to train thief catchers in other countries. It recently held a week long training programme: “The week-long training programme tackling corruption in infrastructure projects attracted seven African countries and six Asian ones benefiting from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as well as neighbouring Macau. Participants included anti-graft agency representatives from South Africa, Mali, Nigeria, Thailand, Mongolia and Pakistan” - South China Morning Post

Indian newspapers tend to be full of stories about Nigerians committing crimes there. In one major Indian paper, if you type ‘Nigeria’ into their search function, it changes it to ‘Boko Haram’ and gives you stories related to terror. Anyway here is one such crime story: “A Nigerian national was booked on Wednesday for allegedly befriending a 32-year-old woman through a matrimonial website and duping her of ₹97,000 under the guise of a man from North India” - Hindustan Times

“Ice Spice is the daughter of a Dominican American mother and a Nigerian American father, the latter an underground rapper who took her to the studio when she was a baby, after her parents separated. The eldest of five half-siblings, her Spanish-speaking grandparents helped raise her, though she says being bilingual didn’t necessarily help her rapid-fire rap flow” - LA Times

A Nigerian Police Officer with the London Metropolitan Police is going to receive a payout after winning a case at an employment tribunal over a senior police officer calling him ‘menacing’: “PC Ashley Akajioyi, formerly attached to the Met’s Violent Crime Task Force, won a claim of race-related harassment against the force after a tribunal found the characterisation was derived from “the racial stereotype of black men behaving aggressively.” - Evening Standard

Reviews of Teju Cole’s first new novel in 12 years - Tremor - have started coming in: “And then “Tremor” shakes its structure yet again, and Tunde travels back to Lagos, “a city which changes faster than it can be described.” We’re suddenly delivered into a chapter of some two dozen short personal statements by various people in Nigeria. A wealthy man’s driver, a man suing his brother, a grieving mother, a prostitute, a contractor, a lawyer, a muralist and many others — each speaking in the first person, without context, explanation or judgment” - Washington Post

And here is another: “Tempting as it may be to view Tunde as Teju, Cole cautions against reading Tremor with his own biography in mind. While “reality is where [the book] begins . . . there’s a lot more to a voyage than the port of origin”, he says, attributing the gap of time between his second and third novels to fiction being “very hard if you’re trying to do the unexpected in a way that works” - Financial Times

Aerial photos of the Abuja-Keffi expressway built with Chinese help - Xinhua

Propaganda 7 minute video with Folasade Kehinde who works with the Nigeria Railway Corporation on the Lagos-Ibadan railway line. The video is unintentionally funny: “I carry myself the best way a girl can carry herself," Folashade said, getting emotional as she talks about how her family sees her job, adding that her family was prouder of her than ever” - China Daily

Vietnam spent close to $3 billion importing cashew nuts mostly from African countries between January and September this year. Exact amount spent on Nigeria is not stated other than that volumes are up 134%. Imports from Ivory Coast were $765 million - VOV (Here’s a piece I wrote 7 years ago about how Vietnam imports raw cashew from Nigeria and exports packaged nuts to Europe - Medium)

A bunch of teenagers got into a fight over the sale of drugs in London and one of them got stabbed to death. One of the the teenagers then tried to flee to Nigeria via France. The trial is ongoing: “The court heard how Lebaga-Idubor then made his escape to London via taxi, then to Paris via the Eurostar. In France, Lebaga-Idubor then tried to book multiple flights to Lagos, Nigeria but missed the initial flight and the following one was then cancelled. The court heard how he was then persuaded by family and friends to return to the UK. He was arrested on his return at St Pancras Station at 4.30pm on April 25” - Peterborough Telegraph

“A Nigerian man has been extradited to Nebraska for a $6million fraud where he tricked business employees into wire transfers and preyed on others by masquerading as a love interest. Alex Ogunshakin, 40, who was at the top of the FBI Cyber's Most Wanted List after a fraud indictment in 2019 filed in Omaha, Nebraska, was arrested in Nigeria and ultimately surrendered to the U.S” - Daily Mail