The Conservative Party Leader in the British Parliament, Kemi Badenoch, has Nigerian roots and spent some of her early life and education in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.
However, since she became more prominent in British politics, Badenoch has used every opportunity she gets in media interviews to say demeaning things about her country of origin, riling Nigerians each time she does that.
One such occasion was a recent Cable News Network (CNN) interview with Fareed Zakaria during which Badenoch not only made blatant false claims about Nigerian citizenship but, in the process, portrayed Nigeria as a country that elevates misogyny as a state policy.
Responding to a question, she said: “I can’t give [Nigerian citizenship] to my children because I’m a woman”. She also claimed that Nigerian citizenship is “virtually impossible” to obtain relative to British citizenship.
As a newspaper, we declare this narrative factually false, legally indefensible and totally misleading.
In Nigeria, there is no gender bias regarding citizenship by birth.
According to Section 25(1)(c) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, “Every person born outside Nigeria, either of whose parents is a citizen of Nigeria, shall be a citizen of Nigeria by birth.”
This provision applies regardless of whether the Nigerian parent is a mother or a father. The Constitution unmistakably refers to parents, not just paternal lineage.
Thus, a Nigerian-born mother like Badenoch automatically confers Nigerian citizenship to her children born abroad just as legally as a Nigerian father can. This law is gender neutral. This means that Badenoch’s children are qualified – as anybody else – to have acquired Nigerian citizenship on being born to their mother, and as so regarded, unless they renounce their citizenship for reasons best known to them.
Badenoch’s false claim is even more disingenuous when one considers that Nigerian laws abhor all forms of discrimination, especially gender.
Section 42(2) of the Constitution states that “no citizen of Nigeria shall be subjected to any disability or deprivation of rights … by reason only that he is a woman.”
This provision rules out any denial of rights by reason of sex, birth circumstances, or class. So for Badenoch to claim that her children are ineligible for Nigerian citizenship simply because she is a woman is to contradict the very foundation of Nigeria’s constitutional commitment to non‑discrimination.
Equally, Badenoch’s assertion that obtaining Nigerian citizenship is “virtually impossible” does not hold water.
Sections 26 and 27 of the Constitution provide for citizenship by registration or naturalisation, subject to standard requirements like good character, domicile intention, and approval by the president.
According to a report, the federal government conferred Nigerian citizenship on 1,006 foreign nationals between 2017 and 2023.
Although the Nigerian system may not be as seamless and quick as the UK’s, calling it impossible, especially for those who meet the legal criteria, is patently false.
Expectedly, Badenoch’s latest de-marketing of Nigeria in the international media has elicited strong reactions from the country.
Badenoch’s latest remarks fit into a pattern of Nigeria-bashing where she repeatedly characterises Nigeria, and by extension Nigerians, as dysfunctional, while praising or defending Britain’s system.
In other interviews, she identified herself primarily as Yoruba, and less as a Nigerian, and disparagingly lumped Northern Nigerians (and Islamists) together as her “ethnic enemies.”
These patterns suggest a carefully calculated political deployment of her Nigerian-origin identity as a weapon to stoke nationalist sentiment in Britain and promote politics of division and exclusion.
As a newspaper, we wish to reiterate that Kemi Badenoch’s claim – that a Nigerian woman cannot pass citizenship to her children – is legally and constitutionally baseless. Her spurious claims seem to be a narrative fabricated to appeal to a particular political audience in the UK. And she seems ready to tell that audience what it wants to hear, whether true or false, as long as it serves her purpose.
Apart from Badenoch, three other Britons of Nigerian descent won seats in the UK Parliament in the last poll. They are businessman Bayo Alaba, former Shadow Minister Taiwo Owatemi, and Chi Onwurah. Yet none of these have been known to pour scorn on their country of origin, like Badenoch has been doing.
It is quite sad and ironic that while fellow British-Nigerians who have achieved global stardom under the British flag, like former World Boxing Champion Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua and Arsenal footballer Bukayo Saka, always project their Nigerian heritage in good light, MP Badenoch chooses to do the direct opposite.
At a time when individuals of Nigerian descent in the diaspora are contributing meaningfully to societies abroad, such rhetoric from a Nigerian-born person can be damaging to the dignity of Nigeria and Nigerians.
Given her elevated political standing, we believe Badenoch should engage in more dignified discourse, not the banalities she has been uttering.
We acknowledge that Nigeria has its own problems—which country doesn’t? But it is not for characters like Badenoch to manufacture lies to make it look worse than it is. Those who know her should call her to order.
We’ve got the edge. Get real-time reports, breaking scoops, and exclusive angles delivered straight to your phone. Don’t settle for stale news. Join LEADERSHIP NEWS on WhatsApp for 24/7 updates →
Join Our WhatsApp Channel
