Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) Abike Dabiri-Erewa has strongly criticized UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch for making false statements about Nigerian citizenship laws regarding women’s rights to pass nationality to their children.
Speaking in an interview with Channels TV, Dabiri-Erewa expressed frustration with Kemi Badenoch’s consistent misleading claims about Nigeria on international media platforms. “I don’t want to talk too much about her. You go on national, international media and spew a lie, but that is not even true. And I’m sure people have responded. So my problem with that is that it is not true. So why tell us something that is not true?” she stated.
The NIDCOM chairman clarified that Nigerian foreign affairs representatives would not directly confront Badenoch about her criticisms, emphasizing the country’s broader relationship with successful diaspora citizens. “Do you know the number of Nigerians we have in the UK, and in the political space that are doing very well? We don’t have to focus on one person. But when you denigrate your country, we’ll reply you. It’s not about me or the president or you; it’s about Nigeria. You can’t lie about your country and we keep quiet,” Dabiri-Erewa explained.
She stressed Nigeria’s commitment to working with all diaspora citizens while defending the country’s reputation. “There are many Nigerians over there that are doing very well in the political space. So ours is, we continue to work with every Nigerian in the diaspora. But you can’t force anybody to love his/her country,” she stated.
The controversy stems from Badenoch’s recent CNN interview where she claimed Nigerian law prevented her from passing citizenship to her children due to her gender. “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. 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,” Badenoch had stated.
Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights lawyer Femi Falana has also condemned her statement, accusing her of deliberately misinforming the British public to score political points.
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