ABUJA: Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, on Friday night launched a blistering critique against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, describing the opposition leader’s recent verbal broadsides against President Bola Tinubu as symptoms of “agitated depression” fueled by political defeat.
In a statement, Keyamo argued that Atiku’s ongoing hostility toward the President stems from a deep-seated inability to accept the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
Keyamo claimed that the African Democratic Congress ADC presidential candidate feels outmaneuvered by President Tinubu, who secured the presidency on his first attempt after the two politicians pursued parallel, decades-long political trajectories.
“It is now very obvious that Atiku Abubakar is a pained and very bitter fellow. The pain and bitterness stems from the fact that he feels President Bola Ahmed Tinubu finally outsmarted him politically to get the most coveted position of President and he can’t mentally deal with this fact”, he said.
Tracing their political ties back to when Tinubu served as Governor of Lagos State and Atiku served as Vice President, Keyamo observed that Atiku was once viewed as higher in the political pecking order.
However, he noted that through “fate, luck, divine intervention, and political dexterity,” Tinubu clinched the nation’s top office—a goal Atiku has pursued since 1993.
Keyamo further called on those close to the former Vice President to offer him support rather than encouraging his public outbursts, adding that Atiku’s posture risks alienating his remaining supporters as he moves toward “political oblivion.”
Invoking Ecclesiastes 9:11 to emphasize that political power is governed by divine timing, Keyamo declared that Atiku “urgently needs mental health support at this critical time.”
