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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Culture & Society

Old video of Elumelu buying roasted corn resurfaces after First Lady’s remark

From The Punch · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • A video of Nigerian billionaire Tony Elumelu buying roasted corn has resurfaced online.
  • The video's virality follows comments by First Lady Oluremi Tinubu encouraging small businesses like roasted corn vendors.
  • Social media reactions are mixed, with some praising Elumelu's relatability and others questioning the video's timing and authenticity.

A video showing Nigerian billionaire businessman Tony Elumelu purchasing roasted corn from a roadside vendor has resurfaced and gained significant traction on social media. The clip's renewed popularity comes days after First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu encouraged Nigerians to engage in small-scale businesses, citing examples like selling akara, roasted corn, and kuli-kuli.

Jollof is nice but some days we sample roasted corn along the Lagos express… Some cravings die hard.

— Tony ElumeluElumelu's original caption accompanying the video when it was first shared.

The footage, reportedly from around 2019, depicts Elumelu, dressed in a suit, walking along a Lagos expressway with his entourage. He approaches a roadside stall, examines the roasted corn, and makes a purchase. At the time of the original post, Elumelu captioned it, “Jollof is nice but some days we sample roasted corn along the Lagos express… Some cravings die hard.”

Please don’t blame Tony, he is trying to protect his investments by validating Remi Tinubu’s statement on akara frying. If you can’t beat them, you join them.

— X user @MosesUgwum75755A social media user's interpretation of Elumelu's actions.

The First Lady's recent remarks, made during a discussion on government grants for small businesses under the Renewed Hope Initiative, suggested that ventures like akara or roasted corn businesses require minimal capital and offer hope amid economic challenges. However, her comments drew criticism online, with many perceiving them as out of touch with the current economic hardships faced by ordinary Nigerians.

Tiffs and hypocrites all of them suddenly knows how to eat roasted corn and take videos and pictures of it after ejalonibu wife talked about it.

— X user @GoddeywitholuA critical social media comment on the timing of the video's resurgence.

Reactions to the resurfaced Elumelu video have been divided. Some users commend the billionaire for his apparent humility and relatability in supporting local vendors. Others, possibly unaware of the video's age, have questioned its timing, suggesting it might be a public relations move to subtly endorse the First Lady's narrative or capitalize on a trending conversation. Some comments directly accuse Elumelu of hypocrisy, implying he is aligning with the First Lady's statement for strategic reasons.

Who goes to buy corn and film or records himself? … Even the High and mighty have jumped on the trend of Akara and Corn to endorse what was said by their bosses.

— X user @SirHenroDeGreatQuestioning the authenticity of Elumelu's actions in the video.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Punch. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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