Kemi Badenoch, The Conservative Party leader has replied Vice-President Kashim Shettima saying – she stood by her past comments about Nigeria.
Kemi who was born in the UK but mostly raised in Nigeria, has repeatedly described growing up in fear and insecurity in a country plagued by corruption.
In a speech on migration in Abuja, Shettima said Nigeria is proud of Badenoch in spite of her efforts at denigrating her country of origin. He added that Badenoch is entitled to her opinions and could remove Kemi from her name if she wants, but that it does not underscore the fact that the greatest black nation on earth is the nation called Nigeria.
According to the BBC, asked about Shettima’s comments, Badenoch’s spokesman said she “stands by what she says” and “is not the PR for Nigeria”.
“She is the leader of the opposition and she is very proud of her leadership of the opposition in this country,” he told reporters.
“She tells the truth. She tells it like it is. She is not going to couch her words.”
She returned to the UK at the age of 16 to live with a friend of her mother because of the worsening political and economic situation in Nigeria, and to study for her A-levels.
After marrying Scottish banker Hamish Badenoch, she took her husband’s surname.
At the Conservative Party conference this year, Badenoch contrasted the freedoms she experienced in the UK to her childhood in Lagos “where fear was everywhere”.
She vividly described the city as lawless, recalling hearing “neighbours scream as they are being burgled and beaten – and wondering if your home will be next”.
Last week during a tour of the US, she described her home city as “a place where almost everything seemed broken”. Her experiences helped shape her conservative ideals and set her against socialism, she said.
