Delegates want Nigerian borders closed

Delegates to the National Conference said yesterday that Nigeria should close its borders with Cameroun, Niger Republic and Chad to stop influx of insurgents.

Former Ogun State governor Segun Osoba and Mr Ledum Mitee from the South-South and other delegates attributed the recurring insurgency to infiltration of the borders by people bent on destabilising the country.

Osoba suggested immediate closure of the borders between Nigeria and Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republics as an initial step to curb illegal border crossing.

He said Nigeria, at present, is in a state of war and that gradually the economy and the education system in the northern part of the country were being destroyed in a manner that might be difficult to resuscitate.

Mitee, who supported Osoba, added that at a time like this, dirty political mudslinging and blamesharing must give way to decent reasoning among political leaders towards finding solutions to the problem.

“This is not the time to grandstand,” he said. “We may have elders but at a time like this, we need statesmen who should rise up and lead the nation out of this mess. This is no time for politics.”