Kemi Badenoch has said she does not see herself as Nigerian and no longer has a passport for the country she grew up in.
The leader of the Conservative Party was born in the London suburb of Wimbledon but was raised in Lagos, Nigeria.
When Nigeria’s economy collapsed in the 1990s, Ms Badenoch, then aged 16, moved back to the UK to live with a family friend and continue her education.
Speaking to former MP and television presenter Gyles Brandreth on the Rosebud podcast, Ms Badenoch said as most of her life has been in the UK, she “does not identify” 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,” the North West Essex MP said.
“I have not renewed my Nigerian passport, I think, not since the early 2000s.”
Badenoch talking to members of the media on a recent visit to the Royal Welsh Show. Pic: PA
Ms Badenoch added that her home is now where her family is, which includes her extended political family.
On Nigeria, she said: “I know the country very well, I have a lot of family there, and I’m very interested in what happens there.”
“But home is where my now family is, and my now family is my children, it’s my husband and my brother and his children, in-laws. The Conservative Party is very much part of my family – my extended family, I call it,” she added.
Ms Badenoch said on her return to Nigeria after her father, Femi, who was a GP with his own clinic, died, she faced a “big fandango” to get a visa.
She also said her early experiences in Nigeria shaped her political outlook, including why she doesn’t like socialism.
“I remember never quite feeling that I belonged there,” she added.
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Last year, Nigerian vice president Kashim Shettima accused Ms Badenoch of disparaging the country, adding that she has “every right to remove the Kemi from her name”.
The criticism came after Ms Badenoch spoke about her life and childhood in Nigeria during the Tory leadership race.
A spokesperson for Ms Badenoch responded to Mr Shettima at the time, saying the Conservative leader was “not the PR for Nigeria”.
