The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has criticised former Vice-President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, for referring to President Bola Tinubu simply as “Bola” during a press conference in Abuja.
Keyamo described the repeated use of Tinubu’s first name as disrespectful, arguing that the office of the President deserved to be accorded dignity despite political differences between the two politicians.
The minister made his position known in a post on his X handle on Friday, reacting to Atiku’s remarks during the press conference.
Keyamo said, “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.”
He added that political disagreements should not affect the respect accorded to the office of the President, saying, “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.”
Keyamo further accused Atiku of speaking out of personal grievance, alleging that the former vice-president’s comments reflected “pain and bitterness”.
The minister also questioned Atiku’s decision to address Tinubu by his first name after the ADC presidential candidate had previously claimed that the President was older than him.
Atiku had earlier urged Tinubu to adopt his proposal for government intervention to bring down petrol prices, saying the President could rename the initiative and take credit for it if that would reduce the financial burden on Nigerians.
Speaking at the Abuja press conference, Atiku said the priority should be ensuring that Nigerians pay less for petrol, rather than who receives credit for the policy.
