Abass Mimiko, the younger brother of former Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko, has said the recent controversy surrounding First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu's comments encouraging Nigerians to embrace small-scale businesses such as selling akara, groundnuts and kulikuli was the result of deliberate misrepresentation by political opponents of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Speaking in an interview with members of the Correspondents' Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Akure, Ondo State, the former governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) argued that the First Lady's remarks had been taken out of context and unnecessarily politicised.

According to him, the criticism directed at the First Lady was driven more by politics than by the actual content of her message.

"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 there is a lot of mischief going on," Mimiko said.

He stressed that Senator Oluremi Tinubu is not an elected public office holder but someone supporting her husband's administration through the Renewed Hope Initiative.

"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," he added.

Mimiko maintained that the primary responsibility of the First Lady is to support the President and ensure stability on the home front while he focuses on the demanding task of 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," he said.

He also defended the Tinubu administration's economic reforms, arguing that difficult decisions such as the removal of fuel subsidy and efforts to improve accountability in crude oil revenue had disrupted the interests of individuals who benefited from the previous system.

According to him, governing Nigeria requires tough choices, and while the reforms may be painful in the short term, they are intended to place the country on a more sustainable path.

Beyond the recent controversy, Mimiko urged Nigerians to pay greater attention to the achievements of the First Lady's Renewed Hope Initiative rather than focusing on what he described as a distorted interpretation of her remarks.

He listed some of the initiative's interventions to include breast cancer prevention and treatment, tuberculosis control, support for widows and orphans of military personnel, food and nutrition programmes for vulnerable Nigerians, and women empowerment initiatives across the country.

Mimiko insisted that these interventions have positively impacted many lives and deserve greater public recognition than the backlash generated by the First Lady's comments on small-scale businesses.