Presidency rebukes Kemi Badenoch over false citizenship claim

Presidential aide Dada Olusegun has criticised UK Business Secretary and Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, over her recent remarks on Nigerian citizenship laws, accusing her of spreading misinformation and maligning her country of origin.

During a CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, Badenoch claimed she could not pass on Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman.

She compared this to the relative ease of acquiring British citizenship, saying:
“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 acquire British citizenship. We need to stop being naive.”

In response, Olusegun took to his X (formerly Twitter) account on Monday, calling her comments untrue and damaging to Nigeria’s image.

“Aunty @KemiBadenoch, why do you continue to lie against your motherland? Why this continuous, dangerous, and desperate attempt to malign Nigeria?” he wrote.

Citing Section 25(1)(c) of the 1999 Constitution, Olusegun explained that any child born outside Nigeria to either a Nigerian father or mother is automatically a citizen by birth.

He emphasised that gender does not limit this right.

Legal experts also backed this position, stating that Nigerian citizenship can be inherited from either parent, provided the parent is a citizen by birth.

Gender distinctions, they noted, are only relevant when it comes to foreign spouses—where Nigerian law allows foreign women married to Nigerian men to apply for citizenship by registration, but not vice versa.

Born in the UK to Nigerian parents, Badenoch spent part of her childhood in Lagos before returning to the UK at 16. She is married to a Scottish banker and has three children.

Olusegun concluded by urging public figures to exercise caution and avoid misleading the public about Nigeria’s laws and institutions.