Atiku Seeks Removal Of US Travel Restrictions On Nigerians

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 general elections, Atiku Abubakar has asked the newly inaugurated United States President, Joe Biden to remove all travel restrictions imposed on Nigerian citizens by the Donald Trump administration.

Trump administration had imposed a four-year crackdown on immigration into the US, also passed policies that restricted Nigerians and other countries from pursuing long-term visits to the world’s largest economy.

Atiku said this in his ‘Message of goodwill To President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’, on Thursday said: "I look forward to the removal of every travel restriction on Nigerian citizens."

He added that Nigeria has enjoyed good relations with the US since 1961, and US support will help nurture the nation’s democracy.

AllNews had earlier reported that Joe Biden on Wednesday was sworn-in as the 46th President of the United States at a scaled-down ceremony overseen by over 20,000 National Guards in Washington DC.

Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris became the first Black person, the first woman and first Asian American to serve as vice president after she was sworn in by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Following the inauguration on Wednesday, Biden had signed some executive orders undoing some of former President Donald Trump’s policies, including ending the entry ban on citizens from over a dozen countries, including Eritrea, Yemen, Nigeria, and Sudan.

Atiku in his Twitter message said, “As President Joe Biden begins his tenure as the 46th President of the United States of America, I am confident that this new era will mark America’s regeneration and her reaffirmation as the beacon of democracy to the world.

“As I congratulate President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, I urge them and their administration to strengthen US-Nigeria ties and help our beloved nation’s war on terror by providing every type of support required to win our war against the insurgency we face and that threatens the peace of our sub-region.

READ ALSO: Atiku Urges Biden To Help Nigeria's War On Terror

“I also look forward to the removal of every travel restriction on Nigerian citizens, in keeping with the good relations that have existed between our two nations, beginning with the July 27, 1961 state visit of our first Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, to President John F Kennedy, and continuing over the decades since then.

“As the playwright, George Bernard Shaw once said, America and Nigeria are two nations divided by a common language. And millions of Nigerians and I wish to see that relationship sustained to the mutual benefit of both our democratic nations.

“Congratulations once again and may God bless both our nations and bring about a beneficial tenure for your administration.”