Nigerian Delivers Constitution to Kemi Badenoch Over Citizenship Claim

A Nigerian living in the United Kingdom, James Akinwande, has delivered a copy of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution to the office of UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, following her controversial claim that she cannot pass Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman. Badenoch’s comments, made during an international media interview, sparked swift backlash from Nigerians and legal experts who described her statement as inaccurate and misleading. According to Section 25 of the Nigerian Constitution, a child born outside Nigeria is entitled to citizenship by birth if either parent is a Nigerian citizen regardless of gender. In what he described as a civic gesture, Akinwande obtained a printed copy of the Constitution from the Nigerian High Commission in London and took it to the Conservative Party headquarters in Westminster. Sharing the moment on Instagram, he wrote: “Nigerian Citizenship by Descent… A quick trip to the Nigeria High Commission, London… and then, Whitehall… Conservatives HQ. If you know, you know.” His action drew praise from Nigerians online, many of whom viewed it as a clear message against the spread of misinformation about Nigerian laws. Legal luminaries including Femi Falana (SAN) condemned Badenoch’s assertion, stating that the Constitution allows both mothers and fathers to pass on citizenship to their children. “It’s a display of ignorance,” Falana said, noting that many Nigerian women in the diaspora routinely secure citizenship for their children. Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, also refuted the claim, saying the Constitution is unambiguous and does not discriminate based on gender in matters of descent-based citizenship. Fact-checking platforms such as CableCheck have confirmed that Badenoch’s statement was false, citing the same Section 25(1)(c) which states that a person born abroad to either a Nigerian father or mother is a citizen by birth. Senior lawyer Mike Ozekhome (SAN) acknowledged that while the Constitution has areas that reflect gender bias, such as provisions relating to spousal citizenship under Section 26, those clauses do not apply in the context of Badenoch’s claim. He emphasized that Nigerian law recognizes maternal descent in conferring citizenship. The incident has once again drawn attention to Nigeria’s citizenship laws and how they are interpreted by individuals in the diaspora. Badenoch, who has often been critical of Nigeria in the past, has not publicly responded to the development.