The Nigerian Presidency has clapped back at UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch following her claim that, as a woman, she cannot pass Nigerian citizenship to her children, branding her statement false and urging Britain to “send her home for a proper re-education.”
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, made the rebuttal on his X handle on Monday, accusing Badenoch of distorting Nigerian law during a recent CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria.
“Kemi Badenoch lied. She owes her fatherland some apology,” Onanuga wrote. “Britain should send our lost daughter Kemi Badenoch home for a proper re-education.”
He referenced Section 25 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended), which makes it clear that any child born outside Nigeria to at least one Nigerian parent — male or female — is automatically a citizen by birth.
“Section 25 of our constitution defines who has the right to Nigerian citizenship… Every person born outside Nigeria, either of whose parents is a citizen of Nigeria,” Onanuga stated, quoting the law.
Badenoch, who was born in the UK to Nigerian parents, had stated in the CNN interview, “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.”
Onanuga also applauded Nigerian-British lawyer and political activist Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu for correcting Badenoch publicly, describing her response as “enlightening.”
Badenoch, who spent part of her early years in Nigeria before moving back to the UK at 16, is married to a Scottish banker and has three children.
