Human rights lawyer and senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Femi Falana, on Monday faulted United Kingdom (UK) Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, over her claim that she cannot pass Nigerian citizenship to her children because of her gender.
During an interview with CNN on Sunday, Badenoch asserted that she cannot pass on her Nigerian citizenship to her children because of her gender. She suggested that it is easier for Nigerians to acquire British citizenship than for foreigners to become Nigerians.
Reacting in a statement, Falana described Badenoch’s statement as a display of utter ignorance and accused her of misinforming the British public to score political points.
Falana also faulted her assertion that Nigerian citizenship is impossible for foreigners to obtain, noting that “Sections 26 and 27 of the Constitution clearly state that foreigners can acquire Nigerian citizenship through naturalisation or registration once they meet the legal conditions.”
READ ALSO
Falana said, “In her desperate attempt to impress the British electorate, Kemi Badenoch keeps running down Nigeria.
“Contrary to her misleading claim, her children are Nigerians because she is a Nigerian. Her assertion that she cannot give Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman is not in consonance with Section 25(b) and (c) of the Nigerian Constitution which provides that every person born in Nigeria after independence, either of whose parents or grandparents is a citizen of Nigeria, or any person born outside Nigeria to a Nigerian parent, is a citizen.
“Furthermore, by virtue of Section 42(2) of the Constitution, no citizen shall be subjected to any disability or deprivation merely by reason of circumstances of birth, gender, or class. Therefore, her two children are Nigerian citizens. The fact that she may not want them to claim it is irrelevant. For now, they are dual citizens of Britain and Nigeria.”
“A woman married to a Nigerian man can be registered as a citizen, but the same privilege is not extended to a man married to a Nigerian woman, which reflects the patriarchal nature of the law. This should be urgently amended.”
