Get Guardian on Google•Your children are Nigerians, Falana corrects U.K. politician
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, and Shehu Sani, yesterday criticised the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, over her recent comments on Nigerian citizenship.
During an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, Badenoch said she could not pass on her Nigerian citizenship to her children because of her gender. She suggested that it is easier for Nigerians to acquire British citizenship than for foreigners to become Nigerians.
“It’s virtually impossible, for example, to get Nigerian citizenship. I have that citizenship by virtue of my parents, but I can’t give it to my children because I’m a woman.
“Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK and stay for a relatively free period of time, acquire British citizenship. We need to stop being naive,” she said.
Reacting to the claim, Falana (SAN)debunked her claims. In a statement yesterday, Falana described Badenoch’s statement as “a display of utter ignorance” and accused her of misinforming the British public to score political points.
Falana said: “In her desperate attempt to impress the British electorate, Kemi Badenoch keeps running down Nigeria.
“Contrary to her misleading claim, her children are Nigerians because she is a Nigerian. Her assertion that she cannot give Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman is not in consonance with Section 25(b) and (c) of the Nigerian Constitution, which provides that every person born in Nigeria after independence, either of whose parents or grandparents is a citizen of Nigeria, or any person born outside Nigeria to a Nigerian parent, is a citizen.
SIMILARLY, a former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, has slammed Kemi Badenoch over her claim regarding Nigerian citizenship laws.
Reacting in a post via his X handle on Monday, Sani berated Badenoch for bothering about getting a Nigerian citizenship for her children. The former lawmaker asked Badenoch to enjoy her adopted home and leave Nigeria alone.
He wrote: “Why should Kemi Badenoch be bothered about getting a Nigerian citizenship for her offspring from a country she rebuked and rejected? She should just enjoy her adopted home and leave us alone in our father’s home.”
