The President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian presidency has called on the United Kingdom government to send back British Conservative politician, Kemi Badenoch, for what it described as a “proper re-education” over her recent comments on Nigerian citizenship laws.
Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, made the call through his verified X handle, in response to remarks made by Badenoch during an interview with Fareed Zakaria.
Badenoch, born in the United Kingdom to Nigerian parents and raised partly in Lagos, had told CNN: “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.”
In his response, Onanuga wrote: “Britain should send our lost daughter Kemi Badenoch home for a proper re-education. Thanks to Shola Shogbamimu for enlightening the Tory politician.”
He continued, “Section 25 of our constitution defines who has the right to Nigerian citizenship.”
He then cited the provision in full: “25. (1) The following persons are citizens of Nigeria by birth, namely— (a) every person born in Nigeria before the date of independence, either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents belongs or belonged to a community indigenous to Nigeria; Provided that a person shall not become a citizen of Nigeria by virtue of this section if neither of his parents nor any of his grandparents was born in Nigeria.
(b) every person born in Nigeria after the date of independence either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents is a citizen of Nigeria; and (c) every person born outside Nigeria either of whose parents is a citizen of Nigeria.”
He added: “(2) In this section, ‘the date of independence’ means the 1st day of October 1960.”
Onanuga concluded his post with: “Kemi Badenoch lied. She owes her fatherland some apology.”
In the CNN interview aired Sunday, Badenoch used her claim to highlight disparities in immigration systems across countries. “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,” she said.
When asked if she would support the idea of a Nigerian immigrant recreating a “mini-Nigeria” in the UK for cultural integration, Badenoch responded: “That is not right.
“Nigerians would not tolerate that. That’s not something that many countries would accept. There are many people who come to our country, to the UK, who do things that would not be acceptable in their countries,” she said.
