UK Conservative Minister Kemi Badenoch has reaffirmed that she no longer identifies as Nigerian, despite her heritage and early upbringing in the country.
During an appearance on GB News shared on TikTok on Tuesday, Badenoch clarified that her main identity is British and urged politicians to focus on domestic matters.
Badenoch said, “Well, I think that the BBC certainly wrote that headline. It wasn’t quite what I said, but it is true. My main identity is as British. That is what I see myself as.
“Nigeria is a nationality. It’s not an ethnicity. There’s no such language as Nigerian. There are lots of different ethnic groups there.”
Further clarifying her stance, she said, “I think that as a politician in this country, we need to be very focused on what is happening here, not what’s happening elsewhere. And every day, I see loads of Labour MPs in particular talking about every other country except the UK.
“If you come to this country, you need to be very focused on making sure that you integrate. And if you’re a politician, you need to be 100% focused on British issues. And that’s basically what I was saying.”
Badenoch’s defence follows her earlier remarks on August 1, where she disclosed on the Rosebud podcast with Gyles Brandeth, that she had not renewed her Nigerian passport in over 20 years and no longer identifies as Nigerian.
“I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents, but by identity I’m not really. I know the country very well, I have a lot of family there, and I’m very interested in what happens there,” Badenoch said.
Born in Wimbledon, London, in 1980, Badenoch spent much of her childhood in Nigeria and the United States before returning to the UK at the age of 16.
She is one of the last people to receive UK birthright citizenship before the law was changed under Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1981.
Recall that Badenoch has also given other critical remarks on Nigeria where she says is a place where fear is everywhere.
