Nigerian join other immigrants to take oath of US citizenship

Zuyu Nu, (second from right), from China and serving with the US Navy, congratulates Adeniyi Ismail Rufai from Nigeria also serving with the Navy before they took the oath of US citizenship along with 125 others during a naturalization ceremony beneath the Statue of Liberty  during ceremonies marking the 125th anniversary of the Statue at Liberty Island in New York, on October 28,  2011.

NEW YORK Scores of immigrants including a Nigerian (Adeniyi Ismail Rufai) serving with the United States Navy waved tiny flags after taking the oath of United States citizenship at the foot of the Statue of Liberty on Friday, 125 years after the beacon welcoming visitors and immigrants was dedicated.

"We are a nation of diverse people," Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said during the naturalization ceremony on Liberty Island. "And that diversity strengthens our nation."

The new Americans, 125 immigrants from 46 countries, pledged to renounce foreign power, then posed for photos with their citizenship certificates.

"I feel like if you live in a place, you should have a say in the politics," said Paul Currie, who moved to the United States from South Africa eight years ago. "Otherwise, you're an outsider."

Silvia Hodges, who came to the U.S. from Germany in 1999, said the ceremony made her feel "like I belong here — and I really want to vote."

The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was conceived to symbolize the friendship between the two countries and a shared love of liberty. President Glover Cleveland dedicated the statue on Oct. 28, 1886.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "If anybody around this world wants to pick up their family and move so that their family can have freedom ” freedom to speak, freedom to be in charge of their own destiny, all the freedoms that we have incorporated into the Bill of Rights ” they always welcome to America."