Badenoch stands by Nigeria comments after criticism
Kemi Badenoch has defended her previous remarks about Nigeria following criticism from the country’s vice president, who accused her of disparaging it.
The Conservative Party leader, born in the UK but primarily raised in Nigeria, has often spoken about experiencing fear and insecurity while growing up in a nation affected by corruption.
On Monday, Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima suggested that Badenoch should consider “removing the Kemi from her name” if she is not proud of her “country of origin.”
When asked about Shettima’s remarks, Badenoch’s spokesperson stated that she “stands by her comments” and emphasized that she is “not Nigeria’s public relations officer.”
“She is the leader of the opposition in this country and takes pride in that role,” the spokesperson told reporters. “She speaks the truth, as she sees it, and does not soften her words.”
Speaking at an event on migration in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, Shettima noted that his government remains “proud” of Badenoch “despite her efforts to criticize her country of origin.”
Shettima was met with applause when he said: “She is entitled to her own opinions; she has even every right to remove the Kemi from her name but that does not underscore the fact that the greatest black nation on earth is the nation called Nigeria.”
He compared Badenoch’s approach to that of her predecessor, Rishi Sunak – the UK’s first prime minister of Indian heritage – as “a brilliant young man” who “never denigrated his nation of ancestry”.
It is unclear which comments Shettima was referring to, but Badenoch has frequently mentioned her Nigerian upbringing in speeches and interviews.
Born Olukemi Adegoke in Wimbledon in 1980, she grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, and in the United States where her physiology professor mother lectured.
She returned to the UK at the age of 16 to live with a friend of her mother because of the worsening political and economic situation in Nigeria, and to study for her A-levels.
After marrying Scottish banker Hamish Badenoch, she took her husband’s surname.
At the Conservative Party conference this year, Badenoch contrasted the freedoms she experienced in the UK to her childhood in Lagos “where fear was everywhere”.
She vividly described the city as lawless, recalling hearing “neighbours scream as they are being burgled and beaten – and wondering if your home will be next”.
Last week during a tour of the US, she described her home city as “a place where almost everything seemed broken”.
Her experiences helped shape her conservative ideals and set her against socialism, she said.
