The Atiku Abubakar camp, has fired back at Festus Keyamo over his claim that the opposition figure fouled the memory of the late former president, Muhammadu Buhari with his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the period of national mourning.
This was as the Publisher, Ovation International, Aare Dele Momodu, has left the PDP for the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Beside the reference to Buhari, Keyamo, in his X post also flayed Atiku over his continued use of the coat of arms in his official communications, saying he had no legal basis to use such after leaving office as vice president.
Responding hours after, Atiku’s special assistant on public communications, Phrank Shaibu, attacked Keyamo.
‘’Ordinarily, your latest sanctimonious outburst would not deserve a response. But since you’ve taken it upon yourself to play the unsolicited role of moral compass in a government drowning in contradictions, it is only fair to set the record straight—if not for your sake, then for the benefit of the Nigerian public.
‘’Let us begin with the obvious: you serve in an administration where a senior official, your colleague, @aonanuga1956, had the moral indecency to publicly excoriate former President Muhammadu Buhari barely hours after his death was announced.
“His statement—published before Buhari’s body even touched Nigerian soil—was a scathing attack laced with bile and revisionism. Yet we did not hear your voice. You neither condemned the insensitivity nor reminded your colleague of ‘sympathy or empathy’. Where was your so-called bounden duty then?
‘’But suddenly, Atiku Abubakar’s resignation letter from the PDP—which he had every right to make public in response to false claims about his political future—has become your moral crisis. The same Atiku who honoured Buhari with a dignified tribute, even when people in your circle chose to desecrate his memory with political venom.
‘’Spare us the hypocrisy. Your desperate attempt to deflect public attention from the rot within the APC, and the internal decay within your own government, is transparent. Nigerians are mourning not just a former President, but also the steady collapse of governance, civility, and coherence under your watch.’’
Defending Atiku for using the coat of arms, he said, ‘’On the issue of the Coat of Arms: Atiku Abubakar is a former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
‘’The use of a ceremonial letterhead bearing the Coat of Arms on a formal letter of resignation is not an impersonation—it is a nod to the office he once held, much like former U.S. Presidents retain their presidential seals for formal communications. There is no confusion there—only the confusion of a man eager to pick a fight where none exists.
‘’And if your obsession with technicalities was matched by even half the commitment to rule of law, perhaps we would not have witnessed the daily desecration of our courts, the assault on press freedom, or the economic asphyxiation of Nigerians under the Tinubu administration.
‘’In closing, the real tragedy is not Atiku Abubakar’s letter—it is your government’s failure to provide Nigerians with dignity, direction, or hope. If your silence over Bayo Onanuga’s desecration of Buhari’s legacy is anything to go by, you have no moral standing to lecture anyone on decorum or timing.
‘’Please, be well guided—by principle, not by partisanship,’’ he stated
However, Dele Momodu, in his letter of resignation addressed to the chairman of the party in owan ward 4, Owan East Local Government in Edo State, he said, ‘’I wish to inform you of my decision to resign from our political party, PDP, with immediate effect.
‘’My reason is simple and straightforward. Our party has been unarguably hijacked by anti democratic forces, from within and outside, in broad daylight.
‘’It is, therefore, honourable to abandon the carcass of the party to them while the majority of us earnestly sign up with the new coalition party known as the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
“I will forever treasure the kind support you gave me at all times. Thank you, Sir,’’ he wrote, signing off his membership of PDP.
We’re Not Moved By Atiku’s Resignation from Party, Niger Party Chairman Declares
Niger State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Tanko Beji, has said the party was not moved by the resignation of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar from the party.
Beji, who in Minna, on Thursday, added that his resignation has also not created a vacuum within its ranks.
“His (Atiku’s) resignation is a good thing for him, it is also a good thing for our party, one person goes five persons come in. It is good we wish him the best of luck just like he wished us the best of luck.
“Atiku met us in the party, he left before and came came back, people didn’t leave the party, he left for ACN people didn’t leave the party, when he didn’t get what he wanted he came back now he has left again let him go.
“Political party is a thing of goodwill if he thinks leaving the party will make him win the presidency, we will wait and see,” Beji declared.
Meanwhile, the Administrative Secretary of the PDP in the state, Alhaji Jibrin Akwanu, has resigned from the party and registered with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Akwanu told THISDAY that he left the party because “its ship was sinking and everything is dilapidating.”
Chuks Okocha and Laleye Dipo
Follow us on:
