Presidency addresses Kemi Badenoch’s remark on Nigerian citizenship
Kemi Badenoch
Abdullateef Fowewe
Presidential aide Dada Olusegun has openly condemned Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the UK’s Conservative Party, for her recent statements about Nigerian citizenship.
Olusegun charged Badenoch with intentionally distorting Nigerian laws and making a “ongoing effort to defame Nigeria.”
Badenoch’s contentious remarks were delivered during a Sunday interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, where she claimed that her gender prevents her from passing her Nigerian citizenship to her children.
“It’s virtually impossible, for example, to get Nigerian citizenship. I have that citizenship by virtue of my parents. I can’t give it to my children because I’m a woman,” Badenoch stated.
She further asserted that it is considerably easier for Nigerians to obtain British citizenship than for foreigners to become Nigerian citizens.
“Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK and stay for a relatively free period of time, acquire British citizenship. We need to stop being naive,” she added.
Responding in a statement on Monday, Olusegun decried Badenoch’s claims, asserting they were a clear misrepresentation of Nigeria’s established legal framework concerning citizenship.
He wrote, “Aunty #KemiBadenoch, why do you continue to lie against your motherland? Why this continuous dangerous and desperate attempt to malign Nigeria?
“Chapter 3, Section 25 (1)(c) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution states that If the Nigerian woman is a citizen by birth: Your children, whether born in Nigeria or abroad, are Nigerian citizens by descent, automatically under Section 25 of the Nigerian Constitution.
“This holds regardless of the father’s nationality.
“You do not need to apply for registration or naturalisation for your child(ren) to be citizens.”
