The Presidency has challenged the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to identify the Nigerian land borders he intends to reopen if elected, insisting that the country’s borders are already open.
The Presidency described Atiku’s campaign pledge as misleading, arguing that the former Vice President was presenting as a new policy an initiative already implemented by the Federal Government.
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, made the position known in a statement on Friday titled, “Atiku and the Borders: Nigerians Deserve Facts, Not Campaign Slogans.”
Dare said the Federal Government reopened most of Nigeria’s land borders on March 14, 2024, and had not reversed the decision.
“The facts are straightforward, Nigeria’s land borders are already open,” he said.
“It is therefore difficult to understand which borders the former Vice President intends to open when the borders are already open.”
The presidential aide also cited President Tinubu’s opening of the Kamba border in Kebbi State on February 14, 2026, saying the development had generated economic and diplomatic benefits.
He, however, said if Atiku’s proposal was to relax existing border controls, the ADC candidate should provide details of the measures he intended to remove and explain how the associated security risks would be managed.
“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,” Dare said.
He accused Atiku of reducing a complex national security and economic policy issue to a campaign slogan, saying an open border should not be confused with an uncontrolled border.
“An open border is not an uncontrolled border,” Dare said, stressing that modern border management must facilitate legitimate movement and trade while preventing criminals and terrorist groups from exploiting border routes.
According to him, effective border management requires immigration and customs controls, intelligence-sharing, surveillance technology and coordinated security operations.
Dare further linked the issue to Nigeria’s security challenges in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, noting that the country shares international borders with Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
He said the continued threat of terrorism, violent extremism and organised crime across the region made effective border management critical to national security.
Citing the Global Terrorism Index 2026, Dare said about 41 per cent of terrorist attacks occurred within 50 kilometres of an international border, while approximately 64 per cent occurred within 100 kilometres.
He argued that the security presence along Nigeria’s North-East and North-West corridors should not be interpreted as evidence that the borders were closed.
“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.
The presidential aide challenged Atiku, as a former Vice President, to move beyond campaign rhetoric and present a comprehensive border-management policy.
He said such a policy should address border surveillance, intelligence-sharing with neighbouring countries, customs and immigration operations, technology deployment, protection of border communities and regional cooperation against terrorism and organised crime.
“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,” Dare said.
He insisted that the Tinubu administration remained open to scrutiny but maintained that public debate should be based on 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,” he said.
The Presidency also questioned Atiku’s broader campaign platform, asking what new policy direction he intended to offer beyond measures already being pursued by the Tinubu administration.
It accused the former Vice President of increasingly focusing his campaign on promises to “reverse, reopen, or rename” policies and initiatives already in place, rather than presenting what it described as a coherent alternative agenda for the country.