The leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has opened up on more reasons why she has been dishing out harsh criticism against Nigeria, her country of origin.
Badenoch had claimed that corruption is endemic among politicians even amid their failure to tackle insecurity that has created fear and made her growing up more panicking.
Doubling down her criticism of Nigeria’s challenges in an interview with a British media outlet, Badenoch only identified with the Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria where she hails from, saying she is less a Nigerian.
According to the female politician, she is Yoruba and identifies less as a ‘Nigerian’ because she has nothing in common with people in northern Nigeria, a region that has been notorious for Islamism and Boko Haram.
She expressed mixed reactions over her constant identity as Nigerian by people, maintaining that she identifies less with the country than with Yoruba.
Apparently addressing the Vice President of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima who had been critical of Badenoch, she stressed that she has nothing in common with the people from the north of the country, the Boko Haram where Islamism is rampant.
She said being Yoruba is her true identity and refused to identify with the northern people of Nigeria, who she described as “our ethnic enemies” all in the name of being called a Nigerian.
Ms Badenoch recalled how someone once told her when she was very young that her surname was a name for people who were warriors, adding that they protected the crown, and that is what she sees herself doing in her criticism.
She disclosed her readiness to keep protecting Nigeria even if that would claim her life.
Many Nigerians, especially the notable ones have expressed diverse and varying views about the remarks of the British politician.
While others see her as being frank in her assertions, others flayed her for cheapening her country of birth.
One of the latter group is the vice-president of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima, who is from the Boko Haram heartland of Borno.
Shettima had asked Badenoch to change her name if she does not want any association with the “greatest black nation on earth, the nation called Nigeria.”