The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has criticised former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over his repeated reference to President Bola Tinubu simply as “Bola” during a press conference in Abuja.
Keyamo, in a post on his X handle on Friday, described Atiku’s manner of addressing the President as disrespectful, arguing that the office of the President should be accorded dignity regardless of political differences.
“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,” Keyamo said.
“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 also accused Atiku of speaking from a position of personal grievance, saying, “The tone reeks of pain and bitterness in his heart.”
Keyamo further took issue with Atiku’s recent comment about their respective ages, arguing that it was contradictory for Atiku 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.
The exchange followed comments by Atiku at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, where the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate urged Tinubu to consider government intervention to bring down petrol prices.
Atiku said the President could adopt the proposal, rename it and even take credit for it if doing so would ease the financial burden on Nigerians.
“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.
“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,” he said.
