AKIN Fapohunda is a chieftain of the Yoruba sociocultural-cum political organisation, Afenifere. He said so himself. He also claims membership of a shadowy and suspect political group which he called Coalition of Indigenous Ethnic Nationalities.
He claimed that he was a representative of the indigenous peoples of Nigeria embodied by this fly-by-night group. What he did not say, at least not publicly, was that he had the mandate of the Yoruba nation in his new line of business. This Fapohunda caught my fancy, and probably the attention of many other Nigerians, last month when he forced himself into the Nigerian media headlines with his snake oil merchandise.
He was zealous. He dropped names including that of Nigeria’s President, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu . He spoke about the urgency of his mission.
And why it could not wait. For him Nigeria would be a goner if his restructuring proposal was not adopted immediately and implemented zealously. He strutted around town like the proverbial snake oil merchant.
The way Fapohunda went about his new business some three weeks ago, he surely will turn out to be worse than a snake oil salesman. An online entry says snake oil is a term used to describe ‘deceptive marketing, health care fraud, or a scam. Similarly, snake oil salesman is a common label used to describe someone who sells, promotes, or is a general proponent of some valueless or fraudulent cure, remedy, or solution’.
It has to be noted that for over three centuries, and ev.