Ayoola Lawal, former Secretary of the APC Committee of Diaspora Chairmen and respected diaspora leader, has responded to Kemi Badenoch’s recent claims on CNN.
“As a Nigerian and unapologetic nationalist, I find it necessary to respond to the assertions made by Ms. Kemi Badenoch, MP and current leader of the UK Conservative Party, during her interview with Fareed Zakaria on July 20, 2025,” Lawal stated.
Ms. Badenoch had said, “It’s virtually impossible 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.”
“This claim is both inaccurate and misleading,” Lawal said, “and it risks distorting public perception of Nigeria’s nationality laws, particularly among millions of Nigerians in the diaspora and their foreign-born children.”
Lawal clarified that Nigeria does not discriminate based on gender in the transmission of citizenship by birth. Section 25(1)(c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), clearly stipulates that a person born outside Nigeria is a citizen by birth if either parent is Nigerian. “The law makes no distinction between paternal or maternal transmission. It is a matter of documented fact and legal right, not conjecture or hearsay,” he stressed.
“She was very economical with the truth in her claims,” he added.
Lawal affirmed that Ms. Badenoch’s children, by virtue of her Nigerian citizenship, are fully eligible for Nigerian citizenship regardless of their country of birth or their father’s nationality. “That she is unaware of this, or has chosen to ignore it in pursuit of a political narrative, is deeply unfortunate and unbecoming of someone who carries both British and Nigerian heritage,” he said.
He acknowledged that while Nigeria, like many nations, faces administrative and bureaucratic inefficiencies — including delays diaspora parents sometimes encounter in securing Nigerian passports or citizenship certificates for their children — these are issues of process, not of law or rights. “They should not be conflated,” he insisted.
Furthermore, Lawal criticised her implication that Nigerians are intolerant of cultural diversity. “To suggest that Nigerians would not tolerate cultural diversity within their own country, or to imply that our system is inherently intolerant of immigration, is a gross mischaracterisation of our nation’s pluralistic ethos. Nigeria is a federation of over 250 ethnic groups, multiple religions, and diverse traditions — our strength lies in managing complexity, not erasing it.”
He concluded: “Ms. Badenoch has every right to express her views on UK immigration. But invoking Nigeria inaccurately to make a political point does a disservice to the truth and to the millions of Nigerians — at home and abroad — who strive every day to uphold the values of integrity, equity, and constitutional democracy. If there are aspects of our diaspora engagement or civic processes that need reform or streamlining, let those conversations be anchored in facts and good faith — not opportunistic distortions.”
“Nigeria belongs to all her citizens, male or female, at home or in the diaspora, and our laws reflect that,” he affirmed.
