By Prosper Mene
Kemi Badenoch, the UK Conservative Party leader and Secretary of State for Business and Trade, has faced sharp criticism from prominent Nigerian human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) over her recent remarks on Nigerian citizenship laws.
In a CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria on July 14, 2025, Badenoch claimed she could not pass Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman and described acquiring Nigerian citizenship as “virtually impossible.” Falana has labeled these statements as misleading and a display of “utter ignorance” of Nigeria’s legal framework.Badenoch, born in the UK to Nigerian parents and raised in Lagos until age 16, suggested that Nigeria’s citizenship laws are restrictive compared to the UK’s more lenient immigration policies. She stated, “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.” These remarks were part of a wider discussion on immigration, where she argued that Nigerians can acquire British citizenship relatively easily while implying stricter rules in Nigeria.
In a rebuttal, Falana clarified that Badenoch’s claims misrepresent Nigeria’s constitution. Citing Section 25(b) and (c) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, he explained that any person born outside Nigeria to at least one Nigerian parent is automatically a Nigerian citizen by birth, regardless of the parent’s gender. “Contrary to Kemi Badenoch’s misleading claim, her children are Nigerians because she is a Nigerian,” Falana stated. He further referenced Section 42(2), which prohibits discrimination based on gender or birth circumstances, emphasizing that Badenoch’s children are dual citizens of Nigeria and the UK.
Falana also addressed Badenoch’s assertion that acquiring Nigerian citizenship is “virtually impossible” for foreigners. He pointed to Sections 26 and 27 of the Nigerian Constitution, which allow citizenship through registration or naturalization for those meeting specific conditions, such as marriage to a Nigerian citizen or long-term residency. However, Falana acknowledged a gender disparity in the law, noting that while a woman married to a Nigerian man can register for citizenship, a man married to a Nigerian woman does not have the same right, a patriarchal flaw he believes requires urgent reform.
Falana accused Badenoch of denigrating Nigeria to curry favor with the British electorate, a sentiment shared by Nigerian Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who previously criticized her for similar remarks in December 2024. Shettima suggested Badenoch could “remove the Kemi from her name” if she was not proud of her Nigerian heritage, to which her spokesman responded that she “is not the PR for Nigeria” and stands by her statements.
As Falana noted, Badenoch’s children remain Nigerian citizens unless they choose to renounce it upon reaching adulthood, per Section 29 of the Constitution.
