United Kingdom Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has stirred controversy after asserting that she is unable to pass her Nigerian citizenship to her children because of her gender, while drawing sharp contrasts between Nigeria’s and Britain’s immigration policies.
Speaking on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS on Sunday, Badenoch used her personal experience to support her push for tighter immigration controls in the UK, accusing many immigrants of exploiting what she described as a lenient British system.
Okay.ng reports that when asked whether she would support Nigerian immigrants replicating a “mini-Nigeria” for cultural preservation within the UK, Badenoch swiftly replied, “That is not right. Nigerians would not tolerate that. That’s not something that many countries would accept.”
She added, “There are many people who come to our country, to the UK, who do things that would not be acceptable in their countries.”
To reinforce her argument, Badenoch claimed she could not confer Nigerian citizenship on her children because she is a woman.
“It’s virtually impossible, for example, to get Nigerian citizenship. I have that citizenship by virtue of my parents, I can’t give it to my children because I’m a woman,” she said.
“Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK and stay for a relatively free period of time, acquire British citizenship. We need to stop being naive.”
However, her claim contradicts Section 25(1)(c) of the Nigerian Constitution, which states that a person born outside Nigeria is entitled to citizenship by birth if either of their parents is a Nigerian citizen. The gender of the Nigerian parent is irrelevant under the law, making Badenoch’s assertion factually inaccurate.
Kemi Badenoch, born in London in 1980 to Nigerian Yoruba parents, spent part of her childhood in Nigeria before returning to the UK at age 16. She is married to Hamish Badenoch, a Scottish banker, with whom she shares three children.
Before becoming the Conservative Party leader, she served in the UK cabinet under Prime Ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, building a reputation for her hardline stance on immigration, which remains central to her political appeal.
In the CNN interview, Badenoch also vowed to make it “a lot harder” for immigrants to obtain British citizenship.
