The Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Organisation yesterday told the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, that the closure of the nation’s land borders as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 worsened the country’s economic situation and cost Nigeria its place as the leading power in West Africa.
This assertion is contained in a statement issued by its Director, Public Affairs, Senator Dino, Melaye, which described the action as a scam.
Recall that Mohammed had slammed the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, Atiku Abubakar, over his plan to reopen the nation’s borders if elected, saying that the former Vice President’s intention is to reverse the gains made by President Muhammadu Buhari, thus worsening insecurity and unemployment.
The Minister alleged that Atiku’s plan will lead to unhindered importation of arms to compound insecurity in the country, counterproductive to the effort to achieve self-sufficiency in food production, lead to shut down of fertiliser plants and cause farmers to lose their jobs.
Also recall that President Buhari had in August 2019 ordered the closure of the nation’s land borders over the proliferation of illegal importation of drugs, small arms and agricultural products into Nigeria from neighbouring West African countries.
However, in 2020, the President ordered the phased reopening of the borders starting with Seme, in Lagos State, Illela, in Sokoto State, Maigatari, in Jigawa State, and Mfum, in Cross-River State.
Responding to the Minister’s allegation, the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign stated: “Against the backdrop of the rising price of rice, coupled with unmitigated insecurity, the ever-conscious and discerning Nigerians have found out that the closure of Nigeria’s land borders by Buhari and the APC administration was a scam and a failed policy, the lying dexterity of Lai Mohammed, Buhari’s Minister of information notwithstanding.
“The Atiku Campaign Structure is not only happy that the Katsina outing provoked restlessness in the APC, but that it offered our Presidential Candidate the opportunity to enunciate policies that showed the light out of the darkness and reversal to the stone age that APC has cast Nigeria in the last seven and a half years. Truly the message hit the right chords
“Nigerians are assured that under the leadership of His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, all regional trade treaties will be pursued with efficiency. In this regard, both the African Continental Free Trade Area, (AfCFTA) and the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme will be implemented to National and regional advantages. The border management agencies will also be equipped with appropriate technological tools and hardware, to contain smuggling, illegal immigration and arms trafficking.
“Now that Atiku Abubakar’s Katsina outing has jolted Lai Mohammed back to consciousness and stirred him out of his hibernation, he can again safely revert to his recluses, maintaining the dictum that silence is golden”, the group further asserted.
