The Presidency on Friday dismissed African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar’s campaign pledge to open the borders upon assuming office, insisting that the country’s land borders were already open.
It described the promise as evidence that the former Vice President had become unhinged and willing to say anything to deceive politically gullible Nigerians.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, stated this in a statement on Friday titled, ‘Atiku and the Borders: Nigerians Deserve Facts, Not Campaign Slogans.’
He said, “The facts are straightforward, Nigeria’s land borders are already open. The Federal Government announced the reopening of most of the country’s land borders on 14 March 2024, and it has not reversed that position.
“It is therefore difficult to understand which borders the former Vice President intends to open when the borders are already open.”
Dare noted that President Bola Tinubu had personally opened the Kamba border in Kebbi State on February 14, 2026, with attendant economic and diplomatic gains.
He stated that if Atiku instead meant relaxing existing border controls, Nigerians deserved specifics rather than slogans.
“If he means he would relax existing border controls, then Nigerians deserve to know precisely which controls he intends to remove, why he considers their removal necessary, and what safeguards his administration would deploy against terrorism, arms trafficking, smuggling, human trafficking, and other forms of transnational organised crime.”
“This distinction is fundamental. But of course, Atiku is unhinged now, and he would say or announce anything to attract and deceive the politically gullible,” he stated.
The presidential aide explained that a genuinely open border and an uncontrolled one were not the same thing.
“An open border is not an uncontrolled border. Modern border management is designed to facilitate legitimate movement, trade and economic interaction while preventing criminals and terrorist organisations from exploiting the same channels.
“Effective border governance therefore requires a combination of immigration control, customs administration, intelligence-sharing, surveillance, technology and coordinated security operations,” he added.
Linking the stakes of the issue directly to the country’s security environment in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, Dare said, “As Atiku rightly acknowledged, Nigeria shares borders with Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.
“While the region continues to confront terrorism, violent extremism and transnational organised crime have proven to be domestic disturbances that have found border porosity as a channel for their export to other countries.”
Dare cited the Global Terrorism Index 2026 to underscore the security risks tied to border regions, saying it “indicates that approximately 41 per cent of terrorist attacks occur within 50 kilometres of an international border, while about 64 per cent occur within 100 kilometres.”
“Borderlands are particularly vulnerable where difficult terrain, limited state presence and weak coordination create opportunities for terrorist organisations to operate,” he added.
He argued that the country’s heavy security deployment along the North-East and North-West corridors should not be mistaken for closed borders.
“As domestic insurgencies evolve into increasingly networked and transnational terrorist threats, effective border management becomes an indispensable component of national security.
“Terrorists and criminal networks exploit sovereign boundaries precisely because security forces cannot simply pursue them across international borders without appropriate cooperation and legal frameworks.
“Nigeria’s focus on the Northeast and Northwest corridors, including the coordinated deployment of the Armed Forces and other security institutions, should not be misconstrued as evidence of closed borders. It reflects responsible border security,” Dare said.
He added that Atiku, as a former holder of the country’s second-highest office, ought to understand this distinction, and challenged him to present a substantive policy alternative rather than a campaign slogan.
“What Nigerians should reasonably expect from a presidential aspirant is not a slogan about ‘opening borders,’ but a detailed explanation of how his administration would improve border surveillance, strengthen intelligence-sharing with neighbouring states, modernise customs and immigration operations, deploy technology, protect border communities and deepen regional cooperation against terrorism and organised crime,” he said.
Dare noted that the Tinubu administration remained open to scrutiny, but insisted such scrutiny must be grounded in verifiable facts.
“Nigeria’s borders must be open to legitimate commerce and movement, but secure against terrorists and criminals.
“They must be monitored with technology, led by intelligence, and integrated into the country’s broader national-security and economic strategy. That is the policy conversation Nigerians deserve,” the statement read.
The Presidency questioned the substance of Atiku’s broader campaign platform, saying, “The former Vice President’s public outings and policy pronouncements raise a more fundamental question: what new and credible contribution does he intend to make to Nigeria’s development that is not already contained in the reform trajectory of the present administration?
“Rather than presenting Nigerians with a coherent alternative, Atiku appears increasingly preoccupied with promising to reverse, reopen, or rename initiatives already being implemented.”
