British Conservative Party figure, Kemi Badenoch, has reaffirmed that she no longer considers herself Nigerian, despite her familial roots and time spent in the country during her early life.
In a recent appearance on GB News—now circulating widely on TikTok—Badenoch emphasized that her core allegiance lies solely with Britain. She said, “Well, I think that the BBC certainly wrote that headline. It wasn’t quite what I said, but it is true. My main identity is as British. That is what I see myself as.”
Explaining further, she remarked, “Nigeria is a nationality. It’s not an ethnicity. There’s no such language as Nigerian. There are lots of different ethnic groups there.”
Her remarks were not entirely new. On August 1, while speaking on the Rosebud podcast with Gyles Brandeth, Badenoch had expressed that she had not renewed her Nigerian passport in over two decades. “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,” she stated.
Born in Wimbledon in 1980, Badenoch spent portions of her upbringing in both Nigeria and the United States before returning to Britain at age 16. She belongs to the last set of individuals to gain automatic UK birthright citizenship before legislation changed in 1981.
Addressing her critics, Badenoch stressed the need for politicians to focus on local matters. “I think that as a politician in this country, we need to be very focused on what is happening here, not what’s happening elsewhere. And every day, I see loads of Labour MPs in particular talking about every other country except the UK,” she stated.
“If you come to this country, you need to be very focused on making sure that you integrate. And if you’re a politician, you need to be 100% focused on British issues. And that’s basically what I was saying,” she concluded.
okay.ng reports that Badenoch has made similar remarks in the past, including criticism of Nigeria’s socio-political environment, where she previously described the country as one where “fear is everywhere.”
