By Kolawole Ojebisi
The last may not have been heard about the exchange of words between the Federal Government and the Nigerian-British leader of the United Kingdom (UK) Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch.
This is as the UK conservative leader on Wednesday said she is not interested in laundering the image of Nigeria.
Badenoch was born about fourty four years in the United Kingdom to Nigerian Yoruba parents.
Her parents returned home when Kemi was a baby and she grew up in Nigeria. Badenoch finally departed for the UK in 1996 when she turned 16.
Badenoch is known for not mincing her words when she talks about Nigeria. Kemi Badenoch became the first black woman to become the leader of a major UK party in November.
But before she was elected leader of the Conservative Party, Badenoch described Nigeria as a socialist nation brimming with thieving politicians and insecurity.
“This is my country. I don’t want it to become like the place I ran away from,” she said.
“I grew up in Nigeria, and I saw firsthand what happens when politicians are in it for themselves, when they use public money as their private piggy banks, when they pollute the whole political atmosphere with their failure to serve others.
“I saw what socialism is for millions. I saw poverty and broken dreams. I came to Britain to make my way in a country where hard work and honest endeavour can take you anywhere.”
Badenoch also said she “grew up in a place where fear was everywhere. You cannot understand it unless you’ve lived it. Triple-checking that all the doors and windows are locked, waking up in the night at every sound, listening as you hear your neighbours scream as they are being burgled and beaten, wondering if your home would be next”.
However, on Monday, Vice-President Kashim Shettima hit back at Badenoch, accusing her of denigrating Nigeria.
Shettima compared Badenoch to Rishi Sunak, a “brilliant young man” who “never denigrated his nation of ancestry”.
Former Prime Minister Sunak hails from India. However, a spokesperson for Badenoch said the politician stood by her statement.
“Kemi is not interested in doing Nigeria’s PR; she is the leader of the opposition in the UK,” the spokesperson said.
“She tells the truth. She tells it like it is. She’s not going to couch her words, and she stands by what she says.”
Shettima had urged Badenoch to change her first name if she no longer wanted to identify with her homeland.
Born Olukemi Adegoke to Nigerian parents, the lawmaker married Hamish Badenoch, a Scottish banker, and took her husband’s surname.
Shettima was the latest high ranking Nigerian politician or government official to have tackled Badenoch.
Prior to the Vice-President’s statement, the chairman of Nigerians In Diaspora Commission (NiDCom), Abike-Dabiri Erewa, had criticised Badenoch for giving her and, by extension, Nigeria the cold shoulder by ignoring her congratulory message in the wake of her emergence as the UK conservative party leader.
Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, had also berated Badenoch for her series of supposed unprintable comments about Nigeria.
“A very s****d little girl and notoriously self-righteous b***h barks. Ever considered staying in the place you “ran away from” and trying to fix it? You are worse than Aunty Jemima, the female version of Uncle Tom.
“By all means try your luck at being elected leader of the British Conservative party but leave my country out of your pretty yet stinking mouth,” the former minister wrote.
