British Conservative politician Kemi Badenoch has said she no longer considers herself Nigerian, citing a shift in her personal identity and a long absence from formal ties with the country.
In a candid conversation on the Rosebud podcast with Gyles Brandreth, Badenoch shared that while she acknowledges her Nigerian heritage, she no longer feels a national connection to the country.
“I’m Nigerian through ancestry and birth though I wasn’t born there because of my parents. But by identity, I’m not really [Nigerian],” she explained.
Despite her familiarity with Nigeria and close family still living there, Badenoch revealed that she has not held or renewed a Nigerian passport in more than 20 years.
Born in Wimbledon, London, in 1980, Badenoch spent much of her childhood in Nigeria and the United States before moving back to the UK at age 16. She was among the last children to receive UK birthright citizenship before the law changed under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1981.
Reflecting on her formative years, she described the challenges of early adulthood.
“The toughest thing I had to do was to fend for myself at 18.”
Badenoch also spoke about feeling emotionally disconnected from Nigeria during her time there.
“Never quite feeling that I belonged there,” she recalled.
Now firmly rooted in Britain, Badenoch described what “home” means to her today.
“Home is where my now-family is my children, husband, my brother and his children, in-laws. The Conservative Party is very much part of my extended family.”
On her British citizenship, she noted how unusual her status seemed to some of her peers at the time.
“Finding out that I had British citizenship was a marvel to so many of my contemporaries.”
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