By Yaron Steinbuch
A Nigerian man cried his eyes out — temporarily going partially blind in a tear-shedding world record attempt.
Tembu Ebere lost some of his vision as he tried to bawl nonstop for a whole week in one of many Guinness World Records attempts sweeping the African nation, the BBC reported.
The wannabe wailing whiz said he suffered headaches, a swollen face and puffy eyes before going partially blind for 45 minutes.
”I had to restrategize and reduce my wailing,” Ebere told the outlet, adding that he was determined to complete his tear-jerker — even though he has not applied to GWR so it would not count.
He was one of many Nigerians seeking to set world records since May, when a 26-year-old chef named Hilda Baci was officially logged at cooking for 93 hours and 11 minutes at a Lagos restaurant, according to the BBC.
Not only was she cheered at the eatery, celebrities and even the country’s vice president flooded the official website guinnessworldrecords.com, which crashed for two days, the Telegraph reported.
Her culinary achievement sparked a craze among the country’s 200 million people, many of whom attempted their own records.
One schoolteacher, John Obot, told the BBC he will try to spend 140 hours reading classic literature aloud in September.
“The motivation is to promote reading culture in Nigeria,” he said, adding that he had chosen a “record that is meaningful” as he took a swipe at other attempts.
One of them was for the most coconuts dehusked using one’s teeth.
“Of what value is that record, or the people that want to kiss?” Obot said.
In fact, the attempt for the longest kissing was banned in Ekiti state, where authorities told organizers they would be punished if it was held.
“[The] ‘kiss-a-thon’ as an event is not only absurd, immoral, unhealthy [but] capable of denigrating the image of Ekiti,” the Nigerian Culture Ministry said in a statement.
Another person who tried to set a massage endurance record collapsed after 50 hours, which was enough to set a record although she, too, didn’t apply to Guinness beforehand, the BBC reported.
GWR has urged Nigerians to be careful with their crazy attempts and advised hopefuls to register or risk their records not being recognized.
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“Please, enough of the record-a-thons,” the organization said in social media after someone suggested two separate attempts — an “idea-a-thon” and a “puff-puff-a-thon.”
Farominiyi Kemi, the double-attempter, told the BBC: “Nigerians are funny people and we tend to ride on the wave of whatever is happening at the moment. In less than three months the craze would die down.”
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