Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has launched a sharp verbal attack on former Vice-President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, accusing him of acting with personal bitterness and failing to show proper respect to the President.
He voiced his outrage after he repeatedly addressed President Bola Tinubu simply as “Bola” during a press conference in Abuja on Friday.
Taking to his official account on X later that day, Keyamo condemned the former Vice-President’s choice of words, writing: “The continuous reference to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT by His Excellency, ex Vice-President Atiku Abubakar in his Press Conference earlier today as ‘Bola’ is very disrespectful and discourteous.” The minister argued that political disagreements should not eclipse the institutional respect owed to the nation’s highest office, stressing that “for the sake of the country, that office should be accorded all the dignity it deserves.”
Keyamo also highlighted what he viewed as an inconsistency in Atiku’s rhetoric, noting that the former Vice-President had previously asserted that Tinubu was older than him. “It is therefore a contradiction that he would also refer to an ‘elder’ by his first name,” Keyamo said, adding that the overall tone of Atiku’s remarks betrayed deep-seated pain and resentment.
The minister’s rebuke followed Atiku’s public address on Friday, where he urged the administration to adopt his policy recommendations to lower the cost of petrol and warned against relying on temporary palliatives to mitigate the rising cost of living. Atiku stated that “Bola Tinubu should not be ashamed to do what is necessary to lower the price of petrol simply because Atiku Abubakar proposed a government intervention.”
The opposition leader insisted that personal rivalries should be set aside, stating: “He should just take the idea, rename it if he wishes, and even take the credit. What matters to me is that Nigerians pay less.”