The Nigerian Presidency, through Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, has publicly urged the United Kingdom to send Kemi Badenoch, the British Conservative Party leader, back to Nigeria for “proper re-education” following her controversial remarks about Nigerian citizenship laws.
The statement, stems from Badenoch’s claim during a CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria on July 20, 2025, that she cannot pass Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman, a claim Nigerian officials and legal experts have dismissed as false.
Badenoch, born in the UK to Nigerian parents and raised in Lagos until age 16, argued that Nigeria’s citizenship laws are restrictive compared to the UK’s, stating, “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.” She used this to highlight perceived disparities in immigration policies, suggesting Nigerians easily acquire British citizenship while her children are barred from Nigerian citizenship due to her gender.
However, the Nigerian Presidency and legal experts swiftly refuted her claims.
Bayo Onanuga, in a post on X, labeled Badenoch’s statement a “lie” and called her “our lost daughter,” urging Britain to send her back for re-education on Nigeria’s citizenship laws. He cited Section 25 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, which grants automatic citizenship by descent to children of a Nigerian parent, regardless of gender, if the parent is a citizen by birth.
