The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has countered former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his recent claims on the Federal Government’s fuel subsidy policy, describing the claims as misleading and inconsistent with facts.
Keyamo said Atiku’s position on subsidy removal and management misrepresents the policy direction of the current administration.
The Minister accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of being driven by resentment over his 2023 election loss, escalating a political dispute over the government’s new fuel-pricing policy.
Keyamo said in a statement posted on X that Atiku’s attacks on President Bola Tinubu were not principled opposition but the product of what he called “agitated depression.”
The remarks came after Atiku Abubakar alleged that the Tinubu administration had adopted a targeted subsidy on locally refined petrol that he had previously proposed.
“It is now very obvious that Atiku Abubakar is a pained and very bitter fellow,” Keyamo wrote.
He said the former vice president “can’t mentally deal with” Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election.
Keyamo framed the exchange as the latest chapter in a rivalry stretching back nearly two decades.
He noted that Tinubu served as governor of Lagos State while Atiku was vice president under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and that both men have sought the presidency since leaving office in 2007.
Tinubu won the presidency in 2023 on his first major presidential run, while Atiku Abubakar has pursued the office across multiple election cycles.
Keyamo attributed the outcome to what he described as fate, luck, divine intervention and political skill.
The minister urged Atiku’s allies to discourage his criticism rather than encourage it, saying the former vice president risked alienating supporters and fading into “political oblivion.”
He also suggested that Atiku needed mental-health support—a claim that drew attention because it presented a political characterization as a clinical judgment, without offering medical evidence.
The dispute underscores rising tensions between the ruling administration and opposition figures ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections, with fuel policy becoming an early point of contention.
