Chairman/CEO of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) Abike Dabiri-Erewa has said that the newly elected leader of UK’s Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch did not respond when contacted to identify with her Nigerian roots.
Badenoch was elected last Saturday to replace Rishi Sunak who quit after the party’s poor showing in the July general election.
Badenoch was born in London in 1980 but spent her childhood living in Lagos and the United States. She returned to the UK at the age of 16.
In an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme on Wednesday, Dabiri-Erewa said her office cannot force the new Conservative Party leader to identify with Nigeria.
“It depends on if she identifies the Nigerianess in her. We have reached out to her once or twice without any response, so we don’t force people to accept to be Nigerian,” she said.
“If you appreciate the Nigerianess in you and you want to work with us, we are open to everybody, but we cannot force you to appreciate the Nigerianess in you. You remember the Miss Universe Nigeria in South Africa.
“Until she got into a little problem with South Africa she identified with Nigeria, came to Nigeria and we hosted her. As long as that blood is in you, you are a Nigerian.
“So, it depends on Kemi to decide whether she appreciates the Nigerianess in her, whether she wants to work with Nigeria, but we cannot force anybody.”