Kemi Badenoch: Nigerian contesting for UK Prime Minister loses bid

Nigerian-born Kemi Badenoch contesting the position of United Kingdom prime minister was voted out on Tuesday.

Badenoch was voted out of the race as other contestants – Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, and Liz Truss – are still in the race.

Chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady while reading the results indicated that Truss is getting closer to Mordaunt, with Sunak still leading

“Nearly there,” Brady said, noting that the last ballot is tomorrow (Wednesday).

The results as of Tuesday is as follows; Rishi Sunak – 118 (up 3), Penny Mordaunt – 92 (up 10), Liz Truss – 86 (up 15) and Kemi Badenoch – 59 (up 1).

READ ALSO: Nigerian politicians use public funds as personal piggybanks, says UK PM candidate

Last week, Badenoch berated Nigerian politicians for being selfish and failing to serve others.

She said she is in the contest to serve her party and country, the United Kingdom, having grown up in Nigeria and witnessed how Nigerian politicians fail to serve the country.

I chose to be the conservative MP to serve and choose this country because here, I can be free and be anything I want to be. I grew up in Nigeria and I saw firsthand when politicians are in it for themselves.

“When they use private money as their piggybanks when they promise the earth and they pollute not just the earth, but the whole political atmosphere with their failure to serve others. I came to Britain, determined to make my way in a country where hard work and honesty can take you anywhere.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Kemi Badenoch launches bid for UK PM

“I saw what socialism means. For millions, it is poverty and broken dreams. I came to Britain determined to make my way in a country where hard work and honest endeavour can take you anywhere,” the former UK Equalities Minister said.

Badenoch, a former Equalities Minister launched her bid to become the next United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister, promising “limited government” and “a focus on the essentials” in early July.

The MP for Saffron Walden said she supported lower taxes “to boost growth and productivity, and accompanied by tight spending discipline.”

Writing in The Times, she also hit out at “identity politics” and said Boris Johnson was “a symptom of the problems we face, not the cause of them.

“People are exhausted by platitudes and empty rhetoric. Loving our country, our people or our party is not enough,” she said.

“What’s missing is an intellectual grasp of what is required to run the country in an era of increased polarization, protectionism and populism amplified by social media.”