Shame that Kemi Badenoch isn’t part of ‘living bridge’ between UK and Nigeria
One of the more fascinating details to emerge from the two-day state visit to Britain by Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu is the moment it departed from tradition.
Mr Tinubu met everyone, including King Charles, Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as well as Britons people linked in some way with Nigeria. These included England rugby union captain Maro Itoje, Olympic athlete Christine Ohuruogu and poet Sir Ben Okri. Nigerian pop superstar Tiwa Savage attended the March 18 state banquet for the president and his wife in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle.
The one person who didn’t meet the Nigerian president was Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party. Surprising for two reasons: Ms Badenoch is of Nigerian descent and the leader of the opposition would normally attend such events as well as shake hands with visiting dignitaries.
But when Mr Tinubu did the rounds on March 19, meeting the UK prime minister once again, as well as members of the Nigerian community abroad, the omission recurred. Missing once again from the official schedule was the traditional meeting between a visiting head of state and leader of the British opposition.
Perhaps Ms Badenoch just cannot stand to meet this representative of the country where she spent much of her childhood? Remember, the London-born child returned to the UK only at age 16.
In fact, Ms Badenoch has often criticised Nigeria fiercely. Particularly stinging was her portrayal of Nigerian culture as backward and keen on sending its daughters back into the kitchen.
Nigerians in Nigeria and the UK have taken note. When Ms Badenoch rose to political prominence with her November 2024 election as leader of the Conservative Party, some Nigerian commentators said their country’s export to mainstream British politics was a Trump-like figure, constantly seeking to show black people in a bad light. They called her “a white woman in a black woman’s skin”, someone who “talks down” to Nigerians” and paints a “disparaging…Western image of Nigerian society”.
Perhaps Mr Tinubu and his aides heard and read the unflattering commentary on Ms Badenoch and from her about Nigeria?
However it happened, it’s a shame that Ms Badenoch doesn’t seem to be part of the “living bridge”, to use King Charles’ words for the UK’s large and vibrant Nigerian community, which links both countries.
