The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Improvement, Festus Keyamo, has criticized former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his use of Nigeria’s Coat of Arms within the resignation letter.
In a press release posted on his X deal with on Wednesday, Keyamo described Atiku’s motion as unwell‑timed and inappropriate, significantly because the nation is mourning the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“While I acknowledge that it’s inside your constitutional proper to alter political events at any time you could want, releasing your letter of resignation from the PDP throughout this week of mourning is an try to attract the highlight away from such a solemn event and direct it on your self,” Keyamo acknowledged.
Atiku’s resignation letter, dated July 14, 2025, and addressed to his ward chairman in Adamawa State, cited “irreconcilable variations” and expressed his disappointment with what he known as the celebration’s deviation from its founding rules.
The letter was made public by his media aide shortly after Buhari’s passing.
Keyamo alleged that the timing was deliberate, “You ready, signed, and dispatched your letter the day after President Buhari’s demise was introduced, demonstrating an obsession together with your perennial presidential ambition, with out sympathy or empathy.”
READ ALSO: Atiku Quits PDP, Cites ‘Irreconcilable Variations’
He additionally faulted Atiku for utilizing the Federal Authorities’s Coat of Arms on his letterhead regardless of not holding public workplace.
“It’s each morally and legally flawed to proceed to make use of the Coat of Arms of the Federal Authorities in your personal or political communications whenever you stopped being a functionary of the Federal Authorities greater than 18 years in the past,” Keyamo mentioned.
Citing Part 6 of the Flag and Coat of Arms Act, Cap. F30, Legal guidelines of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, Keyamo added that such an act “borders on impersonation.”
“Such continued misuse of nationwide symbols by former officers would definitely trigger confusion in every single place,” he warned.
“I’ve a bounden obligation each as a cupboard member and a member of the Inside Bar to guard our legal guidelines and structure,” the minister concluded.
