Saturday, August 2, 2025 - Kemi Badenoch, leader of the UK Conservative Party, says she no longer considers herself Nigerian, despite being born to Nigerian parents and spending part of her childhood in the country.
Speaking on the Rosebud podcast, Badenoch disclosed that she
has not held a Nigerian passport for over 20 years and now identifies fully
with her British nationality.
“I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth—despite not being
born there—because of my parents. But by identity, I’m not really,” 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.”
Born in London in 1980, Badenoch spent much of her early
years in Nigeria and the United States before returning to the UK at 16 to
continue her education. She said the decision to leave Nigeria was prompted by
political and economic uncertainty at the time.
“I think the reason that I came back here was actually a
very sad one,” she said. “There is no future for you in this country,” she
recalled her parents telling her.
Although born in the UK, Badenoch noted that she received
British citizenship just before Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ended
birthright citizenship in 1981. “Finding out that I did have that British
citizenship was a marvel to so many of my contemporaries,” she said.
Badenoch, who was appointed leader of the Conservative Party
earlier this year, revealed that when her father, Dr Femi Adegoke, passed away
in Nigeria in 2022, she had to apply for a visa to attend his funeral—a process
she described as a “big fandango.”
She also spoke about how her personal and political
affiliations now define her sense of home and identity. “The Conservative Party
is very much part of my family—my extended family, I call it,” she said. “My
identity is now shaped by my husband, my children, and the life I’ve built in
Britain.”
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