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| Minister Festus Keyamo |
In the intensifying political theatre of Nigeria’s pre-2027 election season, Aviation and Aerospace Development Minister Festus Keyamo has launched one of the most personal and psychologically charged attacks yet on former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. Keyamo accused the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate of being a “pained and very bitter fellow” whose recent criticisms of President Bola Tinubu stem not from principled opposition but from an inability to accept political defeat.
The minister’s statement, issued on Friday night, October 9, 2026, went further still, diagnosing Atiku’s “tantrums” as symptoms of “agitated depression” and urging those close to him to administer anti-depressants. “Atiku Abubakar urgently needs mental health support at this critical time as he finally peters into political oblivion,” Keyamo declared.
This exchange is far more than a routine political spat. It crystallises decades of parallel ambitions, the unresolved economic trauma of fuel subsidy removal, and the high-stakes contest for narrative dominance as Nigeria heads toward another presidential election.
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A “Panic-Driven Publicity Stunt” and the “Dull Student” Jibe
The clash erupted after Atiku sharply criticised the Federal Government’s newly announced 30-day petrol discount at NNPC Limited stations. The measure, unveiled amid a global crude price shock that pushed average pump prices toward ₦1,400 per litre, allows NNPC Retail to forgo its profit margin and sell at cost—particularly prioritising commercial transporters—while the government negotiates a temporary ceiling around ₦1,350 per litre. Officials insist this is not a return to the full subsidy abolished on May 29, 2023.
Atiku rejected it outright. Through his campaign spokesperson, he branded the initiative a “calendar-scheduled, election-laced subsidy package” and a “panic-driven publicity stunt.” “Nigerians are not fools to be offered a month of discounted fuel after years of punishing prices and then expected to forget the hardship when the discount expires,” he said. “What happens on Day 31?”
The rhetoric escalated at the inauguration of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja on Friday. Addressing the president familiarly as “Bola,” Atiku accused him of clumsily copying his own long-advocated “production subsidy” proposal—targeted support for locally refined fuel with safeguards to ensure benefits reach consumers—while discarding the parts that would make it sustainable.
“Bola, you are like a dull student who copied his classmate’s answer. You have done it so blindly that the classmate’s name is at the top of his exam paper, and then you demanded marks for original thinking,” Atiku said. “You copied my production subsidy proposal, nothing wrong about that. You stripped away the part that makes it work and handed Nigerians a 30-day discount. Where is the rest of the answer, Bola? You see why it is good to go to school.”
The personal tone—first-name address and classroom analogy—provided Keyamo with ammunition.
Keyamo’s Counter-Attack: Bitterness, Divine Will, and a Biblical Warning
Keyamo’s response was equally personal and layered with political history. He argued that Atiku’s hostility originates from the fact that Tinubu “finally outsmarted him politically” to capture the presidency on his first serious national attempt, while Atiku has pursued the office almost continuously since the early 1990s.
“Recall that President Bola Tinubu was Governor of Lagos State at a time when he [Atiku] was Vice-President of Nigeria and was generally regarded as politically ahead of President Tinubu in the pecking order,” Keyamo noted. After both left office in 2007, their paths intertwined and diverged amid shared and competing ambitions. “Through a combination of fate, luck, divine interventions and political dexterity, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu finally clinched the Presidency AT THE FIRST TRY as against his never-ending ambition since 1993. Here lies his pain, anger, despair and depression.”
Keyamo invoked Ecclesiastes 9:11—“the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong”—to underscore that power ultimately comes from God, not human scheming. He portrayed Atiku’s attacks as “veiled as opposition heroics” but actually a “higher form of depression in the field of mental health called agitated depression.”
“Agitated depression” is not a formal DSM-5 diagnosis but a descriptive term for major depression featuring restlessness, irritability, racing thoughts, and psychomotor agitation rather than the classic low-energy presentation. Keyamo offered no clinical evidence; the diagnosis was purely political rhetoric.
Parallel Careers and Unfinished Ambitions
The rivalry has deep roots. Atiku’s presidential quest began in earnest with the 1993 Social Democratic Party primaries, where he finished behind M.K.O. Abiola. He served as Vice-President (1999–2007), then ran or contested tickets in 2007 (Action Congress), 2011 (PDP primary), 2015 (APC primary), 2019 and 2023 (PDP candidate). The 2027 ADC ticket marks roughly his seventh major attempt.
Tinubu, by contrast, built a formidable machine as Lagos governor (1999–2007), remained a kingmaker within the progressive camp, and secured the APC nomination and presidency in 2023 on what Keyamo frames as his first full national run.
The contrast—one man repeatedly circling the prize, the other seizing it relatively late—fuels the narrative of personal grievance that Keyamo exploits.
Keyamo himself is no neutral observer. A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, former human-rights activist, and previously Minister of State for Labour under Buhari, he has emerged as one of Tinubu’s most combative defenders. His aviation portfolio has seen visible infrastructure pushes, which he frequently credits to fiscal space created by subsidy removal.
The Larger Economic Battlefield
At stake is the central economic argument of the Tinubu era. Subsidy removal in 2023 freed enormous resources—estimates of cumulative Federation Account gains run into the tens of trillions of naira—allowing higher FAAC allocations, debt clearance, and infrastructure spending. Yet it also triggered a sharp rise in transport and food costs that remains politically toxic more than three years later.
The government maintains that restoring the old subsidy would cost ₦16–20 trillion annually and reverse hard-won fiscal stability. Temporary measures such as the 30-day NNPC discount, tax relief, CNG expansion, and strategic reserves are presented as targeted cushions rather than policy reversal. Atiku and other opposition figures counter that the human cost has been too high and that temporary palliatives merely paper over structural failure.
This dispute is not abstract. Fuel prices affect every household’s transport fares, food prices, and small-business viability. How the government manages the next 12–15 months of living-cost pressures will heavily influence the 2027 verdict.
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Political Significance and Risks
Keyamo’s language—psychiatric diagnosis, “political oblivion,” calls for anti-depressants—raises the temperature. While Nigerian political discourse is often robust, framing an opponent’s criticism as mental illness risks normalising personalised attacks and may alienate moderate voters who prefer policy debate over character assassination.
Conversely, it rallies the base by portraying the opposition as driven by spite rather than solutions.
Atiku’s first-name familiarity and classroom metaphor, meanwhile, project confidence and seek to reframe the subsidy debate as one of intellectual ownership. Both sides are fighting for narrative supremacy: the government as pragmatic reformers delivering long-term gains; the opposition as the voice of immediate relief for suffering citizens.
As the ADC campaign council begins work and other opposition figures jostle for relevance, exchanges like this one are likely to intensify. The underlying questions remain substantive: Can temporary price interventions ease hardship without undoing fiscal reforms? Can a politician with a three-decade presidential record still reinvent himself as a fresh alternative? And will voters ultimately reward endurance, results, or the most compelling story of grievance and hope?
Keyamo’s intervention ensures that the personal dimension of the Tinubu–Atiku rivalry will remain front and centre. Whether it advances serious debate about Nigeria’s economic path or merely deepens polarisation is a question the coming months will answer.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Technology.
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