Aviation and Aerospace Development Minister Festus Keyamo has called on those close to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar to seek mental health support for him, following the opposition figure's public rejection of President Bola Tinubu's 30-day petrol price discount.

Legit.ng reports that Keyamo made the remark in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday night, October 9, saying the former vice president was consumed by bitterness over Tinubu's political rise and was showing signs of what, the minister described as "agitated depression."

Keyamo wrote:

"Atiku Abubakar urgently needs mental health support at this critical time as he finally peters out into political oblivion."

The minister offered no medical basis for the claim, and his post did not include any clinical evidence.

What Atiku said about petrol discount

Atiku, who is the presidential candidate of the ADC for the 2027 elections, had spoken at the inauguration of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja on the same day. He described the federal government's 30-day fuel discount as a superficial measure that did nothing to address the broader economic pain Nigerians had endured.

"Thirty days cannot erase three and a half years of hardship. Nigerians have heard your excuses and endured your failed promises. They are ready to judge your record," he said.

Atiku also accused the Tinubu administration of borrowing from an idea he had previously proposed, only to be mocked for it.

"When I proposed targeted support to ease fuel costs, you called me ignorant of economic policy. Your government said it could not be done. Now, in a desperate and clumsy retreat, you have shamelessly embraced the principle you mocked. You owe me an apology," he added.

He went on to outline his own alternative, calling for government support to be limited to petroleum products refined and sold locally in Nigeria, with the intervention capped, included in the national budget and independently audited.

Watch a snippet of Atiku's latest speech below via the X post:

"Let me address Bola Tinubu. Your government has made life unbearable and called it reform."

ADC Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar says President Bola Tinubu's administration has failed to provide meaningful economic relief.

— News Central TV (@NewsCentralTV) October 9, 2026

Keyamo responds to ADC's Atiku

In his reply, Keyamo traced the political trajectories of both Tinubu and Atiku after each left office in 2007, Tinubu as Lagos governor and Atiku as vice president. He noted that at the time, Atiku was widely seen as the more likely presidential contender of the two. Tinubu, the minister argued, eventually won the presidency on his first attempt, while Atiku had chased the ambition across several election cycles without success.

Keyamo cited Ecclesiastes 9:11 to reinforce his point that political outcomes are not purely determined by strength or skill, and suggested Atiku's public criticism of the president reflected personal frustration rather than genuine policy concern.

The exchange reflects the sharpening political tension as Nigeria moves closer to the 2027 elections, with the cost of living and the government's economic record remaining central points of dispute between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition figures.

Read Keyamo’s full reaction to Atiku’s latest criticism of the Tinubu administration in his X post below.

It is now very obvious that Atiku Abubakar @atiku is a pained and very bitter fellow. The pain and bitterness stems from the fact that he feels President Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT finally outsmarted him politically to get the most coveted position of President and he can’t mentally deal with this fact. What we are witnessing with all his recent tantrums against Mr. President, veiled as opposition heroics, is actually a higher form of DEPRESSION in the field of mental health called AGITATED DEPRESSION.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu was Governor of Lagos State at a time when he was Vice-President of Nigeria and was generally regarded as politically ahead of President Tinubu in the pecking order of those who aspired to be President. This is not a forum to restate the political journey these two eminent politicians embarked upon when both left their offices as Vice President and Governor in 2007, both in union sometimes and in disunion some other times, with both of their eyes fixed on the ultimate prize.

However, 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.

But let me remind Atiku Abubakar that, despite all the invectives he has poured on the President of late, power is given only by God Almighty, not by man. My most favourite Bible verse since I was 10 years old is actually Ecclesiastic 9:11 which states:

"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

We should all pity Atiku Abubakar rather than goad him on. Those close to him should actually administer anti-depressants on him. Rather than win supporters, he will lose most intelligent ones by his recent posturing.

Atiku Abubakar urgently needs mental health support at this critical time as he finally peters out into political oblivion.

— Festus Keyamo, SAN, CON, FCIArb (UK) (@fkeyamo) October 9, 2026