Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, has said she no longer considers herself Nigerian and does not hold a Nigerian passport, having not renewed it in over 20 years. Born in London in 1980, she grew up in Nigeria and the US before returning to the UK at 16 due to Nigeria’s worsening political and economic situation.
Speaking on the Rosebud podcast, Badenoch said: “I’m Nigerian through ancestry, but by identity, I’m not really. I know the country well and have family there, but home is where my family is now—my children, husband, and in-laws. The Conservative Party is also part of that extended family.”
She noted she was among the last to automatically receive British citizenship by birth before the law changed in 1981. She recalled feeling out of place in Nigeria and said her parents believed there was no future for her there. When her father, Dr. Femi Adegoke, died in Nigeria in 2022, she had to go through a “big fandango” to get a visa to attend.
