₦airaland Forum

Meanwhile, what's happening in Niger today?

Akin Olaoye is a former Obidient.

Akin Olaoye @akintollgate

I listened to Atiku on reopening Northern borders so “economically displaced” youths can find work.

It is half-truth, packaged as rage bait.

The official border is not closed to Nigerians doing legitimate trade. What was shut and must stay shut, are the illegal tracks that feed weapons, drugs, stolen petroleum and human smuggling into the North. There are 84 official border routes and over 1,400 plus illegal smuggling routes that must remain shut.

You do not create jobs by reopening the supply line of the bandit economy. Security is the first market.

While Atiku sells an open bush path as policy, this government has been putting real ladders in front of Northern youths.

For me programs like NELFUND, 3MTT and TVET skills, agri value-chain programmes across nine Northern states and BOI/AGSMEIS credit are true drivers.

A region grows where farms, schools, industries and markets can function. Not where smugglers set the timetable.

Atiku should speak to Nigerian voters with the full truth, not the convenient half.
Nigeria Forward 🇳🇬💚

https://x.com/akintollgate/status/2093248823430705435

Previous threads:


2023 threads

Moment Idiroko Border Was Opened By Custom Officials (video)
https://www.nairaland.com/7717354/moment-idiroko-border-opened-custom

Breaking News- Tinubu Opens Up Borders To All Type Of Food Import .
https://www.nairaland.com/7766993/breaking-news-tinubu-opens-up

FG Reopens Six Land Borders, To Probe Reasons Buhari Closed Borders
https://www.nairaland.com/7761430/fg-reopens-six-land-borders

2024 threads

Tinubu Opens Land, Air Borders With Niger Rep, Lifts Other Sanctions
https://www.nairaland.com/8029273/tinubu-opens-land-air-borders


Tinubu Orders Customs To Return Seized Food Items To Owners
https://www.nairaland.com/8025716/tinubu-orders-customs-return-seized

Olubunmni Tunji-Ojo @BTOofficial

ATIKU’S BORDER CLAIM: WERE THE BORDERS CLOSED?

Attention has been drawn to comments by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on his plans to reopen Nigeria’s land borders if elected President in 2027.

As the Minister of Interior who supervises the Nigeria Immigration Service being an agency of government in charge of border and migration management, it is expedient to state that Nigerian borders are not closed and so cannot be reopened.

On 16 December 2020, the previous government reopened Seme, Illela, Maigatari and Mfum, with the rest to follow. Idiroko and Ikom were reopened for goods and services on 20 April 2022, and Kamba and Tsamiya, in Kebbi State, followed under the current administration in February 2026, linking to Niger Republic and Benin Republic respectively.

The former Vice President named Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin Republic specifically. The prolonged closures on the Cameroon border, at Banki and Amchidé, did not arise from the 2019 trade policy at all. They date to 2014, when Boko Haram forced their closure for security reasons, and reopened in 2019, with Fotokol and Gambaru following in 2021, after joint military and stabilisation efforts by Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Folding this separate, security driven history into one continuous 2019 shutdown misrepresents two distinct issues, trade regulation and counter insurgency, as a single failure.

Not every northern crossing is fully unrestricted today. Where banditry or residual insurgent activity persists, tighter control is a deliberate security judgement, not neglect, since reopening ahead of the security situation would expose traders and border communities to greater risk.

Modern border management is not a choice between total closure and unrestricted movement; it requires security, documentation, customs compliance and controlled trade facilitation together.

Political competition should not become a competition to rewrite recent history. If he has a new border proposal, he should set it out and explain how it differs from the current approach, rather than treating separate trade, security and infrastructure issues as one and the same.

Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo
Minister of Interior
Federal Republic of Nigeria
August 29, 2026

Source

This is the John Ughulu faction. There is also the Peter Ameh faction of the OK Movement.

Mynd44:
I doubt Bello will respond publicly, he seems to be the cool-headed one and Bahir is more vocal.

He has calmed down, but he wasn't always calm. He often made crazy tweets back in the day. I wonder if he'll remain calm or if this will revive his old ways.

Anthony Ehilebo is a lawyer and long time supporter of the PDP.

Anthony Ehilebo @AnthonyEhilebo

Press Statement

2027: APM Presidential Candidate, Makinde, Appoints Ehilebo as Special Adviser on Media and Digital Communication.

The Presidential Candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Governor of Oyo State, ‘Seyi Makinde, has appointed Barrister Anthony Ehilebo as his Special Adviser on Media and Digital Communication.

This appointment takes immediate effect, with further campaign team announcements to follow.

Makinde declared that Barrister Ehilebo’s unmatched expertise as a communication strategist and lawyer will be a powerful asset in driving the APM’s message of resetting Nigeria, and victory in the 2027 presidential election.

He urged Nigerians to stand firm and rally behind the APM, emphasizing that the 2027 election is a historic opportunity to rescue Nigeria from the failed leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“With unity, courage, and determination, we will reclaim Nigeria’s destiny and deliver the future our people deserve,” Makinde affirmed.

Signed
Dr Sulaimon Olanrewaju
Special Adviser (Media) to the Governor of Oyo State
August 27, 2026

source

Modele Sarafa-Yusuf, was born in Ibadan into the family of Alhaji Buhari Osinaike, a public servant in the old Western Region and Ogun State and Alhaja Sifawu Osinaike a textile merchant.

She attended the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) where she obtained a Bachelor of Education degree in English in 1986.
She later obtained a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Lagos in 2002.

In 1987 she did her NYSC with NTA Ibadan and was retained by the station afterwards. She was later posted to NTA Headquarters in Lagos.

The first time I saw her was in 1990 when she co-anchored the NTA's coverage of the 1990 Commonwealth Games (in Auckland, New Zealand) with Mainasara Ilo.

She was a noted sportscaster on the NTA for many years and she is viewed as a pioneering female sportscaster.

I was returning home around 6 o'clock one evening in 1993 when I saw smoking coming from Independence Building. As I got home I saw a special breaking news bulletin on the NTA. Modele Sarafa-Yusuf had been passing by when she saw that the building was on fire and she made a special report for NTA News.

She joined Globacom as head of sponsorship in 2004 and contributed to projects such as the Glo-CAF Awards. She also led other projects such as The Lagos International Half Marathon, The Glo-Premier League in Nigeria and Ghana, and the first-in-Africa relationship with Manchester United Football Club.

In 2013 she became the head of marketing at Atiku Abubakar's American University in Nigeria.

She then set up Formart Multi Services Nig. Ltd, a marketing company.

She presented View From The Top, an interview programme on Channels Television and it ran for several seasons in the 2010s.

As Head of Lagos Operations in Arise News, Sarafa-Yusuf helped to transition the former London-based world news channel to an Afrocentric channel with a Nigerian DNA; helped recruit on-air and back-end personnel and worked with anchors, reporters, and producers on ways to make the newscast more appealing. In addition, she coached the anchors on vocal delivery, ad-lib skills, posture, and pacing.

In 2018 she joined Dapo Abiodun's campaign team as director of media and publicity.

On July 9, 2019 she was appointed the Special Adviser on Information, Strategy, and Communication to Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun.

She resigned from government ahead of the 2023 elections and announced her intention to contest the APC Ogun State governorship primaries (against her former boss).

However, she did not get the ticket (Governor Abiodun won) and she began sharing anti-APC tweets after she lost the primaries. In fact, she was sharing tweets in support of Mr Peter Obi.

She stayed in the APC and tried again to get the APC governorship ticket in the 2026 primaries, but she lost to Senator Solomon Adeola.

She has now announced her resignation from the party.