Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, has criticised former Vice-President and Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Atiku Abubakar over his comments on the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Keyamo was reacting to the post by Atiku on his verified X account where he accused Tinubu of making lives expensive for Nigerians.
Keyamo recalled the liquidation of the Nigeria Airways and how the pensioners were left without pay, saying the Tinubu administration was now addressing the outstanding pension and gratuity liabilities owed to former employees of the defunct national carrier, 22 years after the airline was liquidated.
Keyamo said, “Your Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, this is hypocrisy at its peak! Let me just talk only about the sector that I head, Aviation.
“In September, 2004, when you were Vice-President, your Government woke up one morning and liquidated Nigeria Airways, throwing thousands of Nigerians out of jobs and into sorrow and pain,” the minister said.
He alleged that the former employees were subsequently left without their pensions and gratuities, which he said amounted to billions of naira.
“To add salt into their wounds, you refused to pay them their pensions and gratuities, running into billions of Naira,” Keyamo said.
The minister said the consequences of the airline’s liquidation had persisted for more than two decades, with many of the affected workers dying before receiving their entitlements.
He disclosed that Tinubu recently approved the release of N36bn to settle the outstanding liabilities and provide relief to the affected families.
“Twenty-two years later, after many of them have died out of frustration, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is now clearing the mess you left behind.
“In fact, the President was given an Award for this by the workers’ union a few weeks ago,” he added.
The minister accused Atiku of criticising the current administration without adequately accounting for the record of the government in which he served.
“Yet you sit down there and pontificate?” Keyamo asked, adding that younger Nigerians who might not be familiar with the history of the airline’s liquidation needed to understand what transpired.
“It’s only the younger ones who don’t know your history you can attempt to hoodwink, but we will expose you to them,” he said.
Keyamo further accused the former vice-president of taking different positions on the Obasanjo administration depending on the political circumstances.
“When it is convenient for you, you claim some credit of the Obasanjo-Atiku government and when not convenient, you say Obasanjo was in charge and not you as Vice President,” the minister said.
He described the alleged inconsistency as “the proper posturing of a con artist” and accused Atiku of disguising his political ambition with what he called “a cloud of rhetorical gibberish.”
