The ex-minister says the UK Conservative party leader is making a mistake denigrating Nigeria to “advance her political career”.
Former Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, says Britain’s Conservative party and Nigeria-raised Kemi Badenoch will soon learn her lessons that “you don’t throw your people and your culture under the bus”.
Prof Akinyemi, a former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), said Badenoch was making a mistake denigrating Nigeria on the global stage to “advance her political career”.
The foremost Professor of Political Science, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday, said the UK Conservative party leader should leave Nigeria alone and focus on strengthening her party in Britain.
The octogenarian said, “How the daughter of a professor of UNILAG, her father who was a medical doctor, a girl who went to the international school at UNILAG would make it sound like she was selling groundnut and selling water in Lagos to advance her political career.
“She would soon learn that you don’t throw your people and your culture under the bus to advance your career. She is making a mistake but she would soon learn.
“After all, right now, there is even Right Wing political party in the United Kingdom that is even to the right of the Conservative Party. So, what she should be focusing on is how to regain that rightwing profile of the Conservative Party and leave Nigeria alone.”
Days earlier, presidential spokesman Daniel Bwala said Badenoch’s scathing comments about Nigeria are targeted at gaining acceptance from her party members.
In December 2024, Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima criticised Badenoch for disparaging Nigeria, saying that she is entitled to her own opinions and has every right to remove the Kemi from her name.
In 2022, Badenoch, a UK member of parliament of Nigerian descent and then UK Prime Minister hopeful, accused Nigerian politicians of using public funds for their private matters.
After her election as UK Conservative Party leader in November 2024, the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said her office reached out to Badenoch but received no response.
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