The Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has been catching some heat from Nigerians on social media after she said last week that she no longer identifies as a Nigerian. It seems Nigeria can’t catch a break from the MP, whose mother flew from Lagos to give birth to her in London, most likely to qualify for British citizenship, and she only returned to the UK when she was 16.
Last month, she lied on CNN that her children couldn’t get Nigerian citizenship because she is a woman.
Kemi Badenoch badmouthing Nigeria again
As if that wasn’t enough, she claimed later that she went to a “Federal Government College” boarding school and it was like a prison. Last year, she claimed that when she was growing up in Nigeria it was a “socialist country”/
Kemi Badenoch lying in Parliament about Nigeria
As Badenoch tries very hard to distance herself from Nigeria, she would also hope that she can distance herself from comments she made in 2010 while running for parliament in Dulwich and West Norwood. Her campaign leaflet then appealed to Nigerians in the South London constituency to vote her saying:
“A Nigerian in Parliament winning purely on merit and not because of her relatives or by buying the election will be amazing”
“So I am asking for your help now to support a Nigerian who is trying to improve our national image and do something great here”
“For regular updates, please join my fan page here and my “Nigerians for Kemi’ mailing list by clicking here or email me for details and forward this to as many Nigerians as you know”
In her leaflet she self-identified as Nigerian, identified with Nigeria’s challenges, and wanted to “improve our national image”. Was this a different Badenoch from the one now denigrating Nigeria at every opportunity?
The answer may lie in the fact that Badenoch came third in that 2010 election behind Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Her pandering to Nigerian voters didn’t help in a constituency with a significant number of Nigerians because they traditionally vote Labour. She ran again in 2017 in the safe Tory seat of Saffron Walden in rural Essex, with hardly a Nigerian in sight, and won. She’s been running away from Nigeria and Nigerians ever since.
