“You can’t drop Nigeria without dropping ‘Kemi’” – Shehu Sani mocks Kemi Badenoch after she renounced Nigeria

Nigerian senator Shehu Sani has called out UK Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, following her public renouncement of her Nigerian identity.

Reacting to Badenoch’s statement, Sani sarcastically told her to start by changing her name if she truly wants to distance herself from Nigeria.

“Your name is still ‘Kemi’ and you don’t want to identify as Nigerian? That’s fine. But bring back our name. You can change it to Kimberly or Kim Kardashian,” he wrote on social media.

Badenoch, born in the UK to Nigerian parents, stirred controversy after revealing on Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast that she no longer feels Nigerian by identity.

She also admitted she hasn’t renewed her Nigerian passport in decades.

“I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth, despite not being born there… but by identity, I’m not really,” she said.

Although Badenoch spent part of her childhood in Nigeria, she moved back to the UK permanently at age 16. She explained that her parents sent her away due to Nigeria’s worsening political instability.

“Home is where my now family is,” Badenoch added.

She also said her experiences growing up in Nigeria influenced her political beliefs, including her rejection of socialism.

When she returned to Nigeria for her father’s funeral, she described having to apply for a visa as “a big fandango.”

Her comments have sparked mixed reactions, especially among Nigeria. In 2023, Vice President Kashim Shettima also accused her of “denigrating” her roots.

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