The Presidency on Friday criticised Atiku over his pledge to “open the borders” if elected president in 2027, declaring that Nigeria’s land borders are already open and demanding clarity on what exactly he intends to change.
The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, in a statement on Friday, said the federal government had reopened most of the country’s land borders in March 2024 and had not reversed the policy.
Dare also pointed to President Tinubu’s opening of the Kamba border in Kebbi State on February 14, 2026, which he said had produced economic and diplomatic benefits.
He therefore questioned the basis of Atiku’s pledge, asking which borders the ADC presidential candidate intended to open when the existing policy already permits legitimate movement and trade.
According to him, if Atiku was referring to relaxing existing border controls, he should explain which controls he would remove, why such measures were necessary and what safeguards would be put in place to prevent terrorism, arms trafficking, smuggling, human trafficking and other forms of transnational organised crime.
Dare stressed that an open border should not be confused with an uncontrolled border, arguing that modern border management was designed to facilitate legitimate commerce and movement while preventing criminal networks from exploiting international boundaries.
He said effective border management required immigration and customs controls, intelligence-sharing, surveillance technology and coordinated security operations.
The Presidency’s response came as Atiku’s proposed border policy emerged as another point of political debate ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Dare said Nigeria’s security situation, particularly in the north, could not be separated from developments across the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, noting that the country shares borders with Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
He argued that terrorism, violent extremism and organised crime in the region had increasingly assumed a transnational character, making effective border security critical to Nigeria’s national security.
Citing the Global Terrorism Index 2026, Dare said about 41 per cent of terrorist attacks occur within 50 kilometres of an international border, while approximately 64 per cent take place within 100 kilometres.
He said the figures underscored the vulnerability of border communities, particularly in areas where difficult terrain, limited state presence and weak coordination could provide opportunities for terrorist organisations and criminal networks.
He said the federal government’s security operations along the Northeast and Northwest corridors should therefore not be interpreted as evidence that Nigeria’s borders were closed.
“Consequently, 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,” he said.
Dare also challenged Atiku, whom he described as an experienced politician and former occupant of the country’s second-highest office, to provide a detailed alternative policy rather than relying on broad campaign declarations.
“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.
He maintained that the Tinubu administration remained open to scrutiny and should be judged on measurable outcomes in security, economic recovery, border management and citizens’ welfare.
However, Dare said such scrutiny should be based on facts rather than political slogans.
He added that Nigeria’s borders should remain open to legitimate trade and movement while being secured against terrorists and criminals through technology, intelligence and regional cooperation.
“While political contestation is legitimate in a democracy, statements about national security and the Nigerian economy should be grounded in facts, institutional understanding, and a credible alternative policy agenda.
“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.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration remains open to scrutiny and should be judged by measurable outcomes in security, economic recovery, border management and citizens’ welfare. But such scrutiny must be based on 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. But, increasingly, 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,” he added.
Atiku: Nigerians Need Cheaper Fuel, Not Last-minute Transport Promises
Atiku on Friday dismissed President Bola Tinubu’s latest promise to work with governors to reduce public transport fares as a desperate and belated response to a cost-of-living crisis created by his own government, adding that Nigerians needed cheaper fuel and not fire brigade approach to attending to the issue.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described the federal government’s CNG conversion figures as a damning reflection of the Tinubu administration’s performance, saying the government has unwittingly published its own scorecard of failure.
“If Tinubu’s grand strategy for cushioning the consequences of his reckless and poorly thought-out subsidy removal is CNG conversion, then the admission that only about 120,000 vehicles have been converted in more than three years is not an achievement. It is an advertisement of policy failure.
“Against widely cited estimates of roughly 14 million vehicles on Nigerian roads, 120,000 conversions amount to less than one per cent.
“That is the government’s own number. That is Tinubu marking his own examination script.
“If a student returned less than one per cent in his core subject, WAEC would not call it progress. No university would call it excellent performance. Yet Tinubu wants Nigerians to reward the political equivalent of that catastrophic score with another four years.
“The truth is simple: Nigeria cannot afford another four years of monumental failure.”
Atiku said Tinubu’s declaration that “cheaper fuel should result in cheaper fares” was equally a confession that the administration’s energy policy has been fundamentally disconnected from the daily survival of Nigerians.
“For more than three years, Nigerians begged this government for relief. Tinubu removed subsidy without a credible cushioning framework, watched transport costs explode, watched food prices follow, watched businesses suffocate under crushing energy costs, and repeatedly told Nigerians that their suffering was the unavoidable price of reform.
“Now that elections are approaching, and Nigerians are rallying behind Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal for a production-based subsidy to immediately tackle the cost-of-living crisis created by Tinubu, the same government that ridiculed and criticised Atiku’s plan has suddenly discovered that Nigerians need cheaper transportation.
“This is medicine after death. You cannot break a man’s leg, abandon him in pain for three and a half years, then return with crutches and demand applause for compassion. Tinubu created the transport crisis; CNG cannot now be packaged as heroism.”
Atiku said CNG expansion may be desirable, but warned that an alternative fuel cannot be presented as the solution to a purchasing-power crisis.
“Go to the motor parks. Nigerians are travelling less because they cannot afford to travel. Workers calculate whether transport to work will swallow their wages. Traders are buying less because transportation is eating into their capital. Students struggle with daily fares. Farmers pay heavily to move food from farms to markets.
“So, what exactly has Tinubu solved if the bus becomes cheaper to operate but the passenger has become too poor to enter it? A cheaper bus without an affordable passenger is not economic recovery.”
Atiku said the government’s celebration of 120,000 conversions in a country with millions of vehicles was the mathematical equivalent of celebrating a bucket of water while the house is still burning.
Atiku said Nigeria needs a targeted, transparent and fiscally capped subsidy linked to domestic production, deliberately designed to attack the cost-of-living crisis at its source.
“Fuel subsidy must return for struggling Nigerians, not the rich friends of the President and multinational companies but a targeted production intervention that is transparently budgeted, independently audited and guarantees that the benefit reaches consumers,” it added.
“For more than three years, Tinubu told Nigerians to endure pain while government celebrated bigger revenues. Families became poorer, businesses collapsed, transport fares multiplied and workers watched the value of their wages disappear.
“Now, with Nigerians responding positively to Atiku’s alternative, the same government that attacked subsidy as economic heresy has suddenly discovered Atiku’s central argument: when energy becomes cheaper, transportation becomes cheaper; when transportation becomes cheaper, food and production costs begin to fall,” it stated further.
Chuks Okocha and Sunday Ehigiator
Follow us on:
