The leader of the United Kingdom (UK) Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has declared that she no longer identifies as a Nigerian, adding that she is only Nigerian through ancestry and has stopped identifying as one a long time ago.
Penpushing reports that born to Nigerian parents, and became known for her unpleasant comments about her Nigerian origin after she was elected the Tory leader in 2024 made the declaration while speaking on a podcast, released on Friday,
The woman while speaking with the United Kingdom (UK) former member of parliament and television presenter, Gyles Rosebud added that she has not renewed her Nigerian passport since the early 2000s because she no longer identifies with the country.
Penpushing further reports that Badenoch, pointed out that the country’s crisis had shaped her political outlook, recalling and explaining that her return to the United Kingdom (UK) was a very sad one.
The lady who was born in the United Kingdom (UK), grew up in both Nigeria and the United States of America (USA), returned to England aged 16 in one of her numerous remarks, said that she is Yoruba, not Nigerian.
Penpushing also reports that at one point she declared that she had nothing in common with the people from the north of the country, referring to northern Nigerians, and has repeatedly described her experiences in Nigeria as one plagued with corruption and dysfunction.
The aggrieved woman said she grew up seeing what happens when politicians are in it for themselves, using public money as their private piggy banks, and speaking about her life and upbringing in Lagos, said as a child she remembers never quite feeling that she belonged there
“As a child, I remember never quite feeling that I belonged there. I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents… but by identity, I’m not really,” she said.
Penpushing reports that she equally pointed out that she had not experienced racial prejudice in the United Kingdom (UK) in any meaningful form, while it is recalled that she falsely claimed she is unable to pass on her Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman.
“I know the country very well, I have a lot of family there, and I’m very interested in what happens there. But home is where my now family is. It was that my parents thought: There is no future for you in this country’, she added
“I knew I was going to a place where I would look different to everybody, and I didn’t think that that was odd. What I found actually quite interesting was that people didn’t treat me differently, and it’s why I’m so quick to defend the UK whenever there are accusations of racism,” she said.
Penpushing further reports that Badenoch’s comments about Nigeria are often controversial and are considered to be disparaging of the country, while it is recalled that last year Nigerian Vice President, Kasim Shettima, accused her of denigrating the country with her comments.
The Vice President declared that Badenoch has every right to remove the Kemi from her name if she was not proud to be from Nigeria, as he compared her to another diaspora politician in the United Kingdom,
“Rishi Sunak, the former British prime minister, is originally from India. A very brilliant young man, he never denigrated his nation of ancestry nor poured venom on India’, Shettima stated
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