Kenyan business owners defended Nigerian nationals living in Roysambu area amidst an ongoing security crackdown that has seen several foreigners deported.
The businessmen and women highlighted the value Nigerian citizens had injected into the local economy which has recorded rapid growth, further calling on Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i and the Police to halt the operation.
They maintained that police officers would profile all Nigerians in the area, with many being extorted.
Alluding to President Uhuru Kenyatta's November 28, 2017 declaration opening up the country's borders to all African citizens who were to get Visas on arrival, traders called for the same spirit to be witnessed.
“I believe in Pan-Africanism, Nigerians are Africans like me, they are good people.
"If the government has a problem with criminals, they know how to deal with them just like any other Kenyans,”John Makau, a boda boda operator, told Capital.
In August, 19 Nigerians were arrested by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for various fraud cases.
Two weeks ago, five Nigerian nationals were arrested at a house in Lucky Summer, Nairobi for being in the country illegally.
The operation brought to around 200 the number of foreigners arrested and to be deported in the ongoing crackdown.
The crackdown is bound to continue as CS Matiang'i talked tough on cutting down the Sh360 million used in deportations every year by the government.
"We can do more with the Sh360 million. Is it fair? I personally would like to discourage to this idea of spending public resources to deport people.
“We can improve some of our border posts in the country using the money,” he recently stated.
