Influencer and financial commentator GehGeh has stirred fresh debate after strongly defending First Lady Oluremi Tinubu’s controversial advice encouraging Nigerians to start small-scale businesses like frying akara while waiting for bigger opportunities.
Speaking on the Echoo Room podcast, GehGeh insisted that many Nigerians misunderstood the First Lady’s message and allowed emotions to cloud their judgment.
“If you really pay attention to what she was saying, you’ll get that she was trying to encourage Nigerians that they should manage the little things they can, pending when the big opportunities come,” he said.
The First Lady’s comments, made in late June 2026, had triggered widespread outrage after she noted that starting an akara business or roasting corn does not require large capital and formed part of government empowerment efforts through grants rather than loans. Critics accused her of being out of touch with the struggles of ordinary Nigerians.
GehGeh pushed back against the backlash, arguing that people fail to consider different realities.
“Nigerians will say, ‘why would you tell me to start making akara, why are tour kids not doing it?’ They forget that they’re not the same with Tinubu’s child.”
He also addressed the ongoing controversy around the word “olodo,” which has been used in related discussions. When asked if he considered himself an olodo, GehGeh boldly replied:
“Yes, I am an olodo.”
He explained that the term is relative and depends on context.
“This olodo of a thing, it doesn’t really mean anything, even you, if you are a banker now, today, if they remove you from that banking, put you in another field now, you’ll be useless there. So, YCee is a musician. If you remove him from that music industry and put him in medicine, he’ll be an olodo there. If you call me olodo, you simply mean that what you know, I don’t know it. And there are things I know that you wouldn’t know.”
GehGeh’s comments have reignited conversations about self-reliance, class differences, and how Nigerians interpret advice from political figures. While some have agreed that the message was about starting small, many others continue to criticise both the First Lady and her defenders.