The Traffic

“I Don’t Feel Nigerian”: UK Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch on Identity and Roots
London / Abuja — In a candid conversation on the Rosebud podcast hosted by Gyles Brandreth, Kemi Badenoch, leader of the British Conservative Party, made it clear that while her roots trace back to Nigeria, her self-identification no longer does.

“I’m Nigerian through ancestry, by birth... but by identity, I’m not really,” she stated, revealing that she has not renewed her Nigerian passport for more than two decades.

Born in Wimbledon in 1980, with formative years spent in Nigeria and the United States, Badenoch said she returned to the UK at age 16. While her family ties to Nigeria remain strong, she says she never fully felt at home there:

“I know the country very well, I have a lot of family there, and I’m very interested in what happens there… but I never quite felt that I belonged.”

At 18, she recounted her toughest challenge:

“The toughest thing I had to do was fend for myself,” navigating adulthood independently in the UK.

Today, home for her is not defined by place—but by people. She explained:

“Home is where my family is: my children, my husband, his relatives. The Conservative Party is part of my extended family—I call it home too.”

Badenoch also reflected on a less-discussed matter—her British citizenship. She belongs to one of the last cohorts granted birthright citizenship before the policy changed under Margaret Thatcher in 1981. Learning of her British status, she said, was “a marvel to so many of my contemporaries.”

By Haruna Yakubu Haruna