The Foundation for Peace Professionals (PeacePro), a peacebuilding organisation, has petitioned the United Kingdom’s Parliament and the Conservative Party over what it described as “false, misleading, and diplomatically damaging remarks made about Nigeria by Hon. Kemi Badenoch.”
In the petition, the executive director of PeacePro, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, expressed grave concern over Badenoch’s recent statement, which she made during an interview on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, among other things, in which she claimed that the Nigerian Constitution does not permit women to pass on their citizenship to their children.
He denounced Banedoch’s statement as ” entirely false” , citing constitutional provisions that guarantee both Nigerian men and women equal rights to confer citizenship on their children.
“There is no legal basis for such a claim. The Nigerian Constitution does not discriminate between men and women on matters of nationality,” he said.
Hamzat noted that this was not the first time the British Minister, who is of Nigerian descent, has made negative or inaccurate statements about Nigeria.
According to Hamzat, Badenoch’s public rhetoric reflects a recurring pattern of commentary that undermines Nigeria’s image on the global stage. He adds that her statements are especially troubling given her role as a senior government official and a public figure with heritage ties to Nigeria.
“It is unacceptable for someone in her position to continue making factually incorrect statements about a sovereign country, especially one with such longstanding and strategic ties to the UK,” he said.
He called on the UK Parliament and the Conservative Party to initiate an internal review of Kemi Badenoch’s public statements regarding Nigeria and a formal apology and clarification from the minister over the inaccurate claim, amongst others.
