By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
The Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world located in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate (UAE), was lit up with the Green White Green colour on the night of October 1 to celebrate Nigeria’s Independence anniversary.
It is a tradition of the Emirate country to celebrate the independence anniversary of other countries.
Oddly, this honour done to Nigeria has become a subject of intense debate on the social media.
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While some think the gesture by the Arab country is an approval rating for the country’s giant strides, others say the intent is commercial as Nigeria is one of the most lucrative route for the country’s airliner, Emirate.
The Nigerian government has only recently banned the Emirate Airline from operating in Nigeria as a retaliative move against the UAE’s policy to ban the issuance of VISA to Nigerians.
The UAE had announced the Visa ban to Nigerians after an alleged internet fraudster, Hushpuppi, was arrested in the Emirate country.
The lighting of the Burj Khalifa, some say, may be an appeasement offering to Nigeria by the UAE in restoring diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Publisher of the Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu said via his twitter handle: “Nigeria urgently needs and deserves a leader whose VISION is much taller than the world’s tallest building, the BURJ KHALIFA, in Dubai, because our myriad of gargantuan challenges cannot be tackled by a MYOPIC leadership.This gesture in Dubai yesterday reiterated such imperative.”
Activist, Aisha Yesufu, via her handle @AishaYesufu also said: “UAE will celebrate Nigeria because Nigeria gives it a lot of business. When the wives of the ruler of Dubai start coming to Nigeria to shop with their daughters we will celebrate them too. It is all business. Nothing personal!”
@EmodiMba tweeted: “Dubai honoured us? Why won’t they, when we’d to fly over there just to treat neck pain.”
But Abubakar Sadiq Usman tweeting with the handle, @MrAbuSidiq countered: “Even the UAE celebrates Nigeria, yet some are bad mouthing their country.”
