KEMI BADENOCH SAYS SHE NO LONGER IDENTIFIES AS NIGERIAN, DOESN’T HOLD NIGERIAN PASSPORT
Read Time:1 Minute, 41 Second
By Aishat Momoh. O.
British Conservative politician Kemi Badenoch has declared that she no longer identifies as Nigerian and does not hold a Nigerian passport, despite her ancestry and upbringing in the country.
Speaking on the Rosebud podcast hosted by Gyles Brandreth, Badenoch revealed that she has not renewed her Nigerian passport in over two decades and no longer considers Nigeria part of her identity.
“I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents, but by identity I’m not really,” Badenoch said. “I know the country very well, I have a lot of family there, and I’m very interested in what happens there.”
Born in Wimbledon, London, in 1980, Badenoch spent much of her childhood in Nigeria and the United States before returning to the UK at the age of 16. She is one of the last individuals to benefit from UK birthright citizenship before it was abolished by the Thatcher government in 1981.
Reflecting on her formative years, she recalled feelings of disconnection during her time in Nigeria, stating that she never fully felt a sense of belonging.
“The toughest thing I had to do was to fend for myself at 18,” she shared. “Never quite feeling that I belonged there.”
Now a senior figure in the UK’s Conservative Party, Badenoch emphasized that her current sense of identity and belonging is firmly rooted in Britain.
“But home is where my now family is, and my now family is my children, it’s my husband and my brother and his children, in-laws,” she said. “The Conservative party is very much part of my family my extended family, I call it.”
On discovering her British citizenship, Badenoch added, “Finding out that I did have that British citizenship was a marvel to so many of my contemporaries, so many of my peers.”
Her comments have sparked widespread reactions, particularly in Nigeria, where she has been regarded as a prominent figure of Nigerian descent in British politics.
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