Kemi Badenoch, leader of the United Kingdom’s (UK) Conservative Party, says she no longer identifies with Nigeria, her ancestral roots.
In an interview on the Rosebud podcast anchored by Gyles Brandreth on Friday, Badenoch spoke candidly about her Nigerian heritage and personal identity.
Badenoch said she has not renewed her Nigerian passport since the early 2000s, adding that she no longer feels connected to the country despite her ancestral roots.
“I have not renewed my Nigerian passport; I think not since the early 2000s. I don’t identify with it [Nigeria] anymore; most of my life has been in the UK, and I’ve just never felt the need to,” she said.
“When my dad died I had to get a visa to go to Nigeria. Because I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth despite not being born there because of my parents, but by identity I’m not really.”
She acknowledged her deep connection to Nigeria through family ties and interest in the country’s affairs but said the UK is now her home.
“I know the country very well, I have a lot of family there, and I’m very interested in what happens there,” Badenoch said.
“Home is where my now family is, and my now family is my children; it’s my husband and my brother and his children and in-laws. The Conservative Party is very much part of my family, my extended family, I call it.”
Reflecting on her return to the UK when she was 16, Badenoch said her parents felt she had no future in Nigeria.
“I think the reason that I came back here was actually a very sad one, and it was that my parents thought, ‘There is no future for you in this country,” she said.
