CONSERVATIVE Party leader Kemi Badenoch has stated that she no longer identifies as Nigerian and has not possessed a Nigerian passport for over twenty years.
Speaking on the Rosebud podcast, Badenoch acknowledged her Nigerian roots but explained that her sense of identity and belonging is now tied to a different place.
“I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents, but by identity, I’m not really.
“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,” she said.
The Conservative Party minister, who was born in Wimbledon, London, in 1980, spent most of her childhood in Nigeria and the United States before returning to the United Kingdom (UK) at age 16.
Reflecting on her return to Britain, the political leader said her parents had considered the move necessary, telling her there was no future for her in the country. She added that her decision to return had been prompted by a rather sad reason.
Badenoch explained that although she was born in the UK, her British citizenship was granted just before Margaret Thatcher’s government ended birthright citizenship in 1981.
“Discovering I had British citizenship was surprising to many of my peers,” she recalled.
She also shared that when her father, Femi Adegoke, died in Nigeria in 2022, she had to go through the process of getting a visa to travel down to Nigeria, a situation she described as a “big fandango.”
Badenoch said her sense of identity was firmly rooted in her immediate and extended family, including her husband, children, and relatives. She added that the Conservative Party has also become like an extended family to her.
The ICIR reported that the Conservative Party leader has stirred controversies with her recent notable remarks on Nigeria’s Police high bribery tendencies and proposal of 15 years waiting period for British citizenship.
Fatimah Quadri is a Journalist and a Fact-checker at The ICIR. She has written news articles, fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy in an effort to combat information disorder.
She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or fquadri@icirnigeria.org