The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, has pushed back against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s pledge to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected President in 2027, stating plainly that the borders in question are not closed and therefore cannot be reopened.
Tunji Ojo said Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfum were reopened as far back as December 2020, with Idiroko and Ikom following in April 2022, and Kamba and Tsamiya in Kebbi State reopened under the current administration in February 2026, linking Nigeria to Niger Republic and Benin Republic respectively.
On the Cameroon border crossings at Banki and Amchidé, the Minister said their prolonged closure had nothing to do with a 2019 trade policy, tracing it instead to 2014, when Boko Haram forced their shutdown for security reasons, with Fotokol and Gambaru reopening in 2021 following joint military efforts by Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
He said folding this separate security driven history into a single 2019 shutdown wrongly conflates two distinct issues, trade regulation and counter insurgency, arguing that tighter control at some northern crossings reflects a deliberate security judgement given ongoing banditry rather than neglect.
Tunji Ojo said modern border management requires balancing security, documentation and customs compliance rather than choosing between total closure and unrestricted movement, urging Atiku to present a concrete new proposal rather than rewriting recent history for political gain.
By Asiwaju Adekunle Saheed
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