Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has said she no longer identifies as Nigerian and has not renewed her passport since the early 2000s.
Badenoch, who was born in the UK, grew up in both Nigeria and the US. She returned to England aged 16 because of Nigeria’s worsening political and economic climate, and to continue her education.
Speaking on former MP and television presenter Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast, she said she was “Nigerian through ancestry” though “by identity, I’m not really”.
Last year, Badenoch faced criticism from Nigeria’s vice president who said she had “denigrated” the West African country.
Badenoch, who lived in Lagos, spoke at length about her upbringing on the podcast.
“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.”
On not renewing her passport, she said: “I don’t identify with it any more, most of my life has been in the UK and I’ve just never felt the need to.”
“I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there because of my parents… but by identity I’m not really,” she added.
Badenoch said when she visited the country when her father died she had to get a visa, which was “a big fandango”.
She said her early experiences in Nigeria shaped her political outlook, including “why I don’t like socialism”.
As a child “I remember never quite feeling that I belonged there”, she went on, saying she recalled “coming back to the UK in 1996 thinking this is home”.
At the end of last year, Badenoch was criticised for saying she had grown up in fear and insecurity in Nigeria, which was plagued by corruption.
The country’s vice president Kashim Shettima responded, saying his government was “proud” of Badenoch “in spite of her efforts at denigrating her nation of origin”. A spokesperson for Badenoch rebuffed the criticism.
