Abass Mimiko, former governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in Ondo State, on Thursday accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s political opponents of orchestrating the wave of verbal attacks directed at First Lady Oluremi Tinubu. The backlash followed her remarks encouraging citizens to embrace small-scale enterprises such as frying akara, groundnuts, and kulikuli as viable means of livelihood.
He stated that the First Lady’s advice was deliberately misrepresented by the politicians in the opposition party with sole aim of discrediting her and the Federal Government.
The younger brother of a former governor of the Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, told members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Akure, the state capital, that the controversy was unnecessary, insisting that the First Lady’s statement had been blown out proportion.
He said: “I think the whole idea is the elite and the opposition to her husband that are trying to make a mountain out of this. I think it is a lot of mischief going on.
”Oluremi Tinubu herself is not an elected public office holder in Nigeria. She is just trying her best through the Renewed Hope Initiative to support the Renewed Hope agenda of her husband. I think she has done a decent job, in fact an excellent job at that. The informal media is just trying to get ratings by making a whole lot of heavy weather out of this.”
Dr. Abass Mimiko called on Nigerians to appreciate instead of vilifying the First Lady, noting that her constitutional status differs from that of elected public officials.
He explained that the major responsibility of the First Lady is to provide support for Mr. President and ensure stability on the home front while he concentrates on governing the country.
”If you ask me what is the primary job of the First Lady, she is the handler-in-chief of the home front of the Commander-in-Chief of the Federation. She is to keep our President safe, well cared for, healthy and happy. We cannot quantify the value of that. If she is doing anything extra, we should appreciate her for it,” Mimiko said.
Speaking further, the Zenith Labour Party chieftain noted that governing the country was an enormous task, emphasising that President Tinubu was taking difficult decisions towards rescuing the country from socio-economic and political bankruptcy.
He stated that reforms such as the removal of fuel subsidy and efforts to ensure greater accountability in crude oil revenue had unsettled powerful interests that previously benefited from the lopsidedness.
”You don’t remove fuel subsidy, you don’t tell everybody that proceeds from crude oil must go into NNPC accounts before export without stepping on powerful toes. There are powerful syndicates, local and international, that are offended by all of these.
“So, for the First Lady to be there, staying strong for the President and keeping him safe, among other duties, we have to appreciate her,” Mimiko said.
Mimiko identified some of the interventions of the First Lady’s Renewed Hope Initiative, which he noted had recorded significant achievements in healthcare, women empowerment and humanitarian support.
According to him, the First Lady’s contributions to breast cancer prevention and treatment, tuberculosis control, assistance to widows and orphans of military personnel, food and nutrition programmes for vulnerable Nigerians, as well as initiatives designed to create more opportunities for women, insisting that those achievements deserved greater public attention than the controversy surrounding her recent remarks.
