December 13, (THEWILL) – UK Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, says she identifies herself as Youruba and has nothing in common with Northern Nigeria, a “haven for Islamism and Boko Haram”.
The 44-year-old British-Nigerian Member of Parliament for North West Essex had earlier in a response to her criticism by Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, had said she was “not a public relations officer for Nigeria”.
The Vice president had accused Badenoch of denigrating Nigeria, suggesting she could “remove the Kemi from her name” if she was not proud of her Nigerian heritage.
Shettima, who spoke at the 10th Annual National Migration Dialogue held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, in Abuja, had said Badenoch “has even every right to remove the Kemi from her name, but that does not underscore the fact that the greatest black nation on earth is the nation called Nigeria”.
In a recent interview with British media, The Spectator, Badenoch again, sparked fresh identity controversy.
She said, “I find it interesting that everybody defines me as being Nigerian. I identify less with the country than with the specific ethnicity [Yoruba].
“I have nothing in common with the people from the north of the country, the Boko Haram where Islamism is.
“Being Yoruba is my true identity, and I refuse to be lumped with northern people of Nigeria, who ‘were our ethnic enemies’, all in the name of being called a Nigerian.
“Somebody once told me when I was very young that my surname was a name for people who were warriors. They protected the crown, and that’s what I see myself as doing.
“I am here to protect, and I will die protecting this country because I know what’s out there.”
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