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The 2019 Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has appealed to President Donald Trump to reconsider the United State’s travel ban on Nigeria because of the two nation’s long standing relationship, saying he should not punish Nigerians as a result of President Muhammadu Buhari’s gross inefficiencies.
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Trump, on Friday implemented his threat to restrict the ability of immigrants to travel to the United States from Nigeria and five other countries, with the visa ban taken effect from 22 February.
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However, Atiku, while reacting to the development on Saturday said he received with sadness the policy of the government of the United States of America to place Nigeria on its travel ban list.
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He said while he understood the reasons given by the Trump administration (the failure of the Muhammadu Buhari led administration to share information and to address issues of terrorism), the ban did not take into account the pro-American sentiments of the Nigerian public and the solidarity previous Nigerian administrations have had with the United States.
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“I urge the government of President Donald Trump to consider the history of US-Nigerian relationships. Nigeria was one of the few African nations that joined the US-led coalition during Operation Desert Storm between 1990-1991 when the United States championed the liberation of Kuwait.
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“The Trump administration may also consider the pivotal role Nigeria, in partnership with the US, played in bringing peace to Liberia, an American sphere of influence, that now enjoys democracy because Nigerian blood and money paved the way for peace in that nation,” he said.
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According to him, Nigeria had also consistently voted in support of the United States and her allies at the United Nations and other multilateral world bodies, saying this “is even as we are perhaps the biggest trading partner that the United States has in Africa, even where we had alternatives.”
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He added that Nigerians love the United States and had been a major force for the positive development..
We could say that the government did have a fault in the recent decision of the US travel ban. Even so lets not but all the blame to the government since the Federal Government is also doing all it’s best to meet the US demands and has already sent a representative to negotiate with the US.