Kemi Badenoch has defended her recent remarks about Nigeria, following criticism from the country’s Vice President Kashim Shettima, who accused her of disrespecting her heritage.
Badenoch, a Conservative Party leader born in the UK, spent much of her youth in Nigeria. She has consistently spoken about the fear and instability she experienced growing up in a country she describes as riddled with corruption.
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Her comments, however, were met with backlash from Shettima, who on Monday suggested that she might “remove the Kemi from her name” if she lacked pride in her “nation of origin.”
In response to Shettima’s comments, a spokesperson for Badenoch said on Wednesday that the politician “stands by what she says.” The spokesperson emphasized that Badenoch is “not Nigeria’s public relations representative” and further stated, “She leads the opposition and takes great pride in her role in this country; she speaks the truth, and she presents things as they are and will not soften her words.”
Shettima’s remarks came during a speech in Abuja, where he acknowledged his administration’s pride in Badenoch, despite what he called her “attempts to denigrate her country of origin.” He also compared her stance to that of Rishi Sunak, the UK’s first prime minister of Indian descent, who Shettima described as “a brilliant young man” who “never denigrated his nation of ancestry.”
Badenoch, born Olukemi Adegoke in Wimbledon in 1980, spent her early years in Lagos before moving to the United States. She later returned to the UK at 16, seeking to escape Nigeria’s political and economic instability while pursuing her A-levels. She eventually married Scottish banker Hamish Badenoch and adopted his surname.
Earlier this year, during the Conservative Party conference, Badenoch highlighted the freedoms she found in the UK, contrasting them with the fear she felt growing up in Lagos, “where fear was everywhere.” During a recent visit to the US, she described Lagos as “a place where almost everything seemed broken.”
