Mrs. Kemi Badenoch, the prime minister hopeful in the UK Conservative Party, must rue the day her proud parents sent her back to Nigeria. Judging from all her frequent and subtle expressions of regret, that ‘dark chapter’ of her history must be why she’s black, both in pigmentation and by association.
I don’t begrudge Madam Badenoch her good fortune of returning early enough to the UK from this “shithole” where she wielded machetes in a girls’ school like an African village warrior, or where, indeed, she had to wash toilets without running water.
As I stated in a previous piece, we must cut the woman slack and let her be. If she needs all of the “juvenile fulminations” to become the British PM, by all means, she should go on fulminating.
It will be good to see her at Number 10 Downing Street. Let’s see if, as PM, she’ll send bulldozers to level up this heap of a country from where an endless stream of immigrants is causing her needless irritations.
She is right! No one in their right senses likes a toilet without water. Nearly four decades later, we now have schools without lawns and toilets without running water across our cities and towns. That Federal Government Girls’ College in Shagamu – Kemi’s alma mater – must be a shadow of what it was in her days, as are all the Unity Colleges across the country.
Our governments at every level have been irresponsible. But we do not need a Kemi in faraway London to set off the alarm, especially if it’s a self-serving deprecation to win British votes. If it can’t get better, like they say, it shouldn’t get worse!
I attended a federal government college like Kemi. As part of the training regimen to equip students for practical life in addition to academics, each scholar was compulsorily required to report to the boarding house at the beginning of every term with a cutlass (not a machete), a hoe, a broom, and all paraphernalia necessary for complementary self-care and responsible living.
And there was absolutely nothing denigrating about it. We simply learnt survival skills, as indeed was the case in the mission schools established and operated by Kemi’s preferred ancestors.
When the time is ripe, most Brits would tell Madam – perhaps with their votes as well, what the current PM, Keir Starmer, already did gleefully on the floor of parliament during the Prime Minister’s Q&A session in July 2024: that she is a “self-appointed saviour of Western civilisation on a desperate search for relevance.”
Nigerians in particular and Africans in general have had a raw deal with bad leaders and corruption. And it’s substantially a creation of Kemi’s chosen homeland, who ensure that African states stay destabilised while they ferret mineral resources away.
The US, UK, and their allies encouraged the perpetuation of apartheid in South Africa, propped up dictators and have sustained conflicts in mineral-rich states through proxy wars, toppled or sponsored the assassination of reformist leaders, and pushed through economic policies that impoverished entire countries.
How putting down Nigeria became a step ladder to the realisation of Kemi’s aspiration, despite her eloquence and oratory, remains difficult to figure out. At first, it appeared like a one-off instance of bitter reminiscences. But then it has become constant, intentional, and has begun to feature a good deal of embellishment.
Coming after Kemi’s fury was the not-so-conventional and undiplomatic sleight of hand by the United States Mission in Nigeria, and most recently, a widely reported judgment by a Canadian court. It’s difficult to push back the assertions with counter-narratives. But the hypocrisy and innuendoes are not hard to discern.
America expelled Ebrahim Rasool, South Africa’s ambassador to the US, in March 2025, declaring him persona non grata when he drew attention to the “white victimhood” and “dog whistle” racial baiting of white South Africans by President Donald Trump.
Rasool’s offence was calling a spade by its name and publicly venturing a factual opinion to the effect that President Trump was using the changing demographics in the US to ‘advance a form of white supremacy, promoting white victimhood’.
Negating its home standards, the US Mission in Nigeria went beyond its remit when it flagrantly violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Similar to a Canadian court declaring Nigeria’s political parties as terror organisations, the US Mission on July 29, tweeted on its official X handle, thus: “while Nigerians are urged to endure economic hardship like labour pains, some governors are splurging billions on new government houses”.
A day earlier, the Mission issued a visa advisory to applicants, warning: “Using your visa to travel for the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States so that your child will have U.S. citizenship is not permitted. Consular officers will deny your visa application if they have reason to believe this is your intent.”
The above broadsides by the US Mission and the Canadian court are contextually correct. But the truth is more nuanced.
If only Kemi and the US Mission see in the dashboard how much Nigerians contribute to the US and UK economies, either as foreign students, tourists, or as medical expenses, they’d show some respect.
In 2024, CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso told the House of Representatives that foreign exchange demand for education and healthcare had totalled nearly $40 billion over the past decade, surpassing the total foreign exchange reserves of the CBN.
Nigerians know their leaders to be profligate, and their political parties to be special-purpose vehicles. The US and Canada should stay within diplomatic bounds and show some respect. As for Kemi, she’s still crossing the river at the wrong spot.
–Ogar writes from Utako, Abuja
