Precious Nwonu, Enugu
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has criticised former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over his repeated reference to President Bola Tinubu by his first name during a press conference in Abuja.
Keyamo, in a post on his X account on Friday, described Atiku’s reference to the President as “very disrespectful and discourteous”, arguing that the office of the President should be treated with dignity despite political disagreements.
“The continuous reference to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by His Excellency, ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar in his Press Conference earlier today as ‘Bola’ is very disrespectful and discourteous,” Keyamo said.
He added that political differences should not affect the respect accorded to the office of the President.
“He should know better that no matter your differences with Mr President, for the sake of the country, that office should be accorded all the dignity it deserves,” the minister said.
Keyamo also took issue with the tone of Atiku’s remarks, alleging that they reflected personal grievances.
“The tone reeks of pain and bitterness in his heart,” he said.
The minister further referred to Atiku’s recent comments about the ages of the two politicians, arguing that it was inconsistent for the former vice-president to describe Tinubu as older than himself while addressing him by his first name.
“After all, he made the outlandish claim the other day that Mr President is older than himself. It is therefore a contradiction that he would also refer to an ‘elder’ by his first name,” Keyamo said.
Atiku had, during the Friday press conference, called on Tinubu to take measures to reduce petrol prices and ease the pressure of rising living costs.
The former vice-president urged the President to consider his proposed government intervention, saying Tinubu could rename the idea and take credit for it if that would result in lower petrol prices for Nigerians.
“Tinubu should not be ashamed to do what is necessary to lower the price of petrol simply because Atiku Abubakar proposed a government intervention.
“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,” Atiku said.
He also argued that a policy proposal should not be rejected simply because it came from a political opponent and called for measures that would provide more lasting relief to households.
Atiku’s remarks came amid continuing concerns over petrol prices and the wider impact of energy and transportation costs on the cost of living.