SEVERAL Nigerians and Africans who celebrated Ms Kemi Badenoch’s election as leader of the Conservative Party in November 2024 may be disillusioned after seeing the Nigerian-born British politician vigorously campaign against immigration even though she once spent her childhood in Lagos, Nigeria.
Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch, popularly known as Kemi Badenoch, spent her childhood in Lagos, Nigeria. The Times said she is a first cousin to former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. She was born in the UK but her parents only realised she had a right to British citizenship when she was already an adult.
Even her father, Mr Femi Adegoke, a general practitioner, had his roots in Nigeria and even became an activist for the rights for the Yoruba people of the South-West Nigeria.
She has consistently explained how hard life is in Nigeria. “I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation,” Ms Badenoch said in January 2025.
READ ALSO: The rise and rise of Nigeria-born Kemi Badenoch, new Conservative Party leader
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life. So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Ms Badenoch’s calls for immigration tightening
Ms Badenoch has not failed to campaign against throwing the door open for immigrants. In February 2025, she said her party wanted to double the time it would take for new migrants to qualify for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) status from five years to 10 years.
Ms Badenoch stated that applicants must show they had not claimed benefits or used social housing and that their household had been a net contributor to the UK economy, noting that people with criminal record would be disqualified.
Over the weekend, Ms Badenoch drew more criticisms over her anti-immigration comments when she said that “Britain is a home, not hotel.”
“From next year, two million immigrants could automatically claim British citizenship. Two million people; that’s nearly twice the population of Birmingham. That’s massive,” she said, revealing that her party has introduced a deportation bill to bring immigration down,” she said on her X handle on Friday.
Ms Badenoch canvassed the deportation of all foreign criminals and campaigned for the introduction of mandatory age checks, “tougher visa rules, disabled the human rights act to immigration cases, making asylum support repayable and no permanent right to stay in the UK if you rely on benefits.”
“Until that’s law, we won’t fix it. Labour should adopt it now. It’s time to get tough. That’s what the conservatives’ deportation bill delivers. Our country is a home, not a hotel.”
Nigerians knock Ms Badenoch
Several Nigerians on social media could not stomach Ms Badenoch’s anti-immigration campaign. A UK-based lawyer, author, leadership and business consultant, Mr Dele Olawanle, said: “The government has the right to control the influx of immigrants, but it must have a human face.@KemiBadenoch is back. She seems to have an axe to grind with her roots and other immigrants. Immigration control must have a human face, but Kemi’s proposal is inhumane.”
A Chartered Petroleum Engineer, Fellow of the Energy Institute and Co-founder of Subsea Tobotix, Mr Bello Saleh, said Ms Badenoch is sinking and now grabbing at straws.
READ ALSO: Nigerians in USA panic as Trump plans mass deportation of illegal immigrants
“The party she leads was absolutely wiped out in last week’s local elections. They lost almost every seat they contested. Her arch-nemesis, the leader of the Reform Party, the xenophobe Nigel Farage, said “…the conservatives are now, frankly, just a waste of space”. So aunty Oluwakemi Adegoke (or@KemiBadenoch) now has to repackage herself as being even more xenophobic. It still won’t save her. She IS the waste of space.”
A Community Development Officer, Mr Abayomi Amororo, wrote: “An immigrant tackling fellow immigrants like her. What a shameful act.”
