Kemi Badenoch, leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, has said she cannot pass her right of Nigerian citizenship to her children because of her gender. Badenoch spoke yesterday in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria while trying to contrast the immigration policies of Nigeria and Britain.
She told CNN that immigrants often exploit the British system, leaving the UK vulnerable to threats. When asked if she would permit a Nigerian immigrant to create a “mini-Nigeria” in the UK for cultural integration, her response was a swift “no”. “That is not right. Nigerians would not tolerate that. That’s not something that many countries would accept,” she added.
“There are many people who come to our country, to the UK, who do things that would not be acceptable in their countries.” Badenoch cited her children’s “inability” to become Nigerians to stress her point. “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,” she said.
“Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK and stay for a relatively free period of time, acquiring British citizenship. We need to stop being naive.”
Badenoch has three children with her husband. Contrary to Badenoch’s claim, section 25(1)(c) of the Nigerian Constitution states that a person born outside the country is a citizen of Nigeria if either of their parents is Nigerian. This means having just one Nigerian parent is sufficient for citizenship by birth. Born in the UK in 1980 to Nigerian Yoruba parents, Olukemi Adegoke spent much of her childhood in Nigeria before returning to the UK at age 16.
She later married Hamish Badenoch, a Scottish banker, and adopted his surname, becoming Kemi Badenoch. Before becoming the Conservative leader, she previously worked in the cabinet for prime ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak from 2022 to 2024. Badenoch’s popularity has been hinged on her hardline views on immigration. In yesterday’s interview, she said she would ensure that it would be “a lot harder” for immigrants to get British citizenship under her leadership.
