‘My mother sold akara, father a farmer’ – Umahi defends First Lady, Tinubu

Minister of Works, David Umahi, has disclosed that his mother sold beans pudding, popularly known as akara, while his father was a farmer.

Umahi said this while backing President Bola Tinubu’s wife, Oluremi following her remark encouraging Nigerians to be hard working and pick up vocational skills.

Mrs Tinubu had urged young Nigerians to roast corn and sell akara but the remark was met with strong criticisms.

But, the minister said the First Lady’s remark was sincere and should not be ridiculed.

Speaking at a public event, Umahi said Nigerians should stop making “joke of every genuine advice,” stressing that every citizen must contribute meaningfully to national development.

“When our First Lady, our Mother of the Nation, was trying to encourage the youths, we must change our work attitude. Everybody must be working, like in China. To take our country, everybody must be working. Everybody must have something to do.

“My mother was selling akara. My father was a farmer. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that having used that to train me, I will continue to farm at their scale, I will continue to sell akara at their scale.

“Why do we make joke of every genuine advice? Will everybody be a banker at the same time? So, let us be serious, for once.”