KanyiDaily recalls that Kemi Badenoch made the statement during a CNN interview, where she discussed immigration policies and said it’s harder to gain Nigerian citizenship than British citizenship.
She claimed that despite being Nigerian by descent, her children cannot inherit her citizenship because of her gender.
Reacting via his X handle, Bada Olusegun accused Kemi Badenoch of spreading false information about Nigeria’s laws.
The presidential aide pointed to the Nigerian Constitution, stating that her children are, by law, eligible for citizenship regardless of her gender.
He wrote, “Aunty @KemiBadenoch, why do you continue to lie against your motherland? Why this continuous, dangerous, and desperate attempt to malign Nigeria?
“Chapter 3, Section 25(1)(c) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution states that if the Nigerian woman is a citizen by birth, her children, whether born in Nigeria or abroad, are Nigerian citizens by descent, automatically under Section 25 of the Constitution.
“This holds regardless of the father’s nationality. You do not need to apply for registration or naturalisation for her child to be a citizen.”
Backing up Olusegun’s stance, former Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammed Babandede, also dismissed Badenoch’s claims.
Babandede, who previously handled citizenship issues during his time in office, confirmed that both men and women can pass on Nigerian citizenship to their children.
“As a former Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service who oversees citizenship matters, Section 25 of the Nigerian Constitution allows persons whose parents or grandparents (both male and female) become citizens by birth,” he wrote on X.
Kemi Badenoch was born in the UK to Nigerian parents and spent part of her childhood in Lagos before moving back to Britain at 16. She is married to Scottish banker Hamish Badenoch and is a mother of three.
KanyiDaily recalls that Kemi Badenoch had sparked outrage among Nigerians, after proposing a stricter immigration policy that would make immigrants wait 15 years before becoming UK citizens.
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