IN the last few years, Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party in Britain, has had harsh words for Nigeria and Nigerian leaders. Anytime she spoke, there would be one negative reference to Nigeria. It is quite clear that she is angry with Nigeria and our leaders. As the leader of the Conservative Party in Britain, she is only a step away from becoming the next Prime Minister if her party wins the next general elections. That is not a small position for someone born by Nigerian parents and who grew up in Lagos.
Although born in the United Kingdom, she was brought back to Nigeria at a tender age to learn one or two things about the culture of her parents’ country and to get education amongst her peers. Those formative years in Nigeria apparently shaped her outlook on life, but sadly, it fueled her anger against her country. She has, on several occasions, thrown Nigeria under the bus with her disparaging comments, such as:
‘‘I grew up somewhere where the lights didn’t come on, where we ran out of fuel frequently despite being an oil-producing country. I don’t take what we have in this country (Britain) for granted. I meet a lot of people who assume that things are good here because things are good here and they always will be. They don’t realize how much work and sacrifice was required in order to get that’’- Badenoch told the British Broadcasting Service, (BBC), recently.
Her anger could be rightly justified if one takes a broader look of what has happened and what is still happening in Nigeria. Since we gained Independence from Britian in 1960, we have had incompetent leaders who are more comfortable with what they would gain from the system than the overall growth and development of the nation.
In the 21th century, we are still battling with providing basic amenities such as electricity for millions of our people, no thanks to corruption and incompetence of those appointed and elected into positions of leadership in the country. To provide pipe-borne water to homes has become rocket science, and many families now resort to digging their own boreholes to get drinkable water. Despite the abundance of human and natural resources, almost 65 per cent of the population of Nigeria are poor. To eat is now a daily struggle, and 133 million Nigerians are said to be multi-dimensionally poor. Multidimensional poverty is when people experience deprivations in more than one dimension, such as health, education, or living standards.
The security of life and property that should be the priority of government has now become a herculean task, and a large chunk of the country is now in the hands of bandits and terrorists. Yes, Kemi should be angry. And so are millions of Nigerians.
But anger, according to Charles Spielberger, PhD, a psychologist who specializes in the study of anger, defines anger as an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage. Like other emotions, it is accompanied by physiological and biological changes; and when you get angry, your heart rate and blood pressure go up, as do the levels of your energy hormones, adrenaline, and noradrenaline.
Spielberger, in the course of his work, is of the view that anger can be caused by both external and internal events. You could be angry at a specific person (such as a coworker or supervisor) or event (a traffic jam, a canceled flight), or your anger could be caused by worrying or brooding about your personal problems. Memories of traumatic or enraging events can also trigger angry feelings.
When Kemi started her tirade against Nigeria even before she was elected as the conservative party leader, many Nigerians were in support of Badenoch. She was seen as someone that is bold and could speak the truth to power. However, when her jab became more constant and regular, even when she has her new job cut out for her, some Nigerians started having a rethink.
Perhaps, Kemi had a very traumatic experience while growing up in Nigeria. Perhaps not. While in Nigeria, she had the best of education and care. Her mother was a professor at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), while her father was a medical doctor. She attended International School at UNILAG and grew up within the campus where there was electricity supply for most part of the day. She was never the daughter of a groundnut seller or a motor mechanic in Oshodi, neither did she hawk pure water on the streets of Lagos. I doubt if she set her foot in Ajegunle or even Makoko, a riverine community close to her parents’ residence.
Going by the standard of living of her parents in the 80s, Kemi should count herself lucky. She was part of the tiny few in Nigeria who grew up in the 80s and 90s amongst those that could be regarded as the middle class. A middle-class family in the 80s enjoyed a relatively comfortable life. Her parents were well-to-do and could easily provide three square meals per day for her and her siblings. With a dad who is a medical doctor, her healthcare would have been top-notch. When her mum was pregnant, it was easy for her to move to Britain where she was born. Such a family could not be classified as poor. There are millions of kids whose parents could be described as poor, and yet survived the harsh times, and are doing well today.
She has repeatedly described Nigeria as a country plagued by corruption and insecurity. She is right! At this year’s Conservative Party conference, Kemi reflected on the stark contrast between her life in the UK and her childhood in Lagos, describing the pervasive fear she experienced growing up. She also described Nigeria as “chaotic and lawless” while recounting memories of hearing “neighbours scream as they were being burgled and beaten” and the constant dread of wondering if her own home would be targeted next.
In 2022, during her unsuccessful bid to lead the party, she said, “I grew up in Nigeria and I saw first-hand what happens when politicians are in it for themselves, when they use public money as their private piggy banks, when they promise the earth and pollute not just the air, but the whole political atmosphere with their failure to serve others. I saw what socialism is for millions. It’s poverty and broken dreams. I came to Britain to make my way in a country where hard work and honest endeavour can take you anywhere.” She spoke of her brother being attacked by the police and his shoes and wristwatch stolen.
While most Nigerians recognize the fact that the country is not where we want it to be, the fact that she is consistently denigrating the country has gotten most Nigerians angry, with her constant criticism of the country generating an official response from Vice President Kashim Shettima, who said that although the nation is proud of her achievements so far, she should tone down her negative rhetorics about Nigeria.
Speaking at the 10th Annual Migration Dialogue at the State House in Abuja, Shettima said: “Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the British Conservative Party, we are proud of her despite her efforts at denigrating her nation of origin. She is entitled to her own opinions; she has even every right to remove the Kemi from her name, but that does not underscore the fact that the greatest black nation on earth is the nation called Nigeria. One out of every three or four black man is a Nigerian, and by 2050, Nigeria will surpass the United States and will become the third most populous nation on earth.”
Shettima compared Mrs. Badenoch’s approach to that of her predecessor, Rishi Sunak, whom he described as “a brilliant young man” who “never denigrated his nation of ancestry.” Sunak, who is of Indian heritage, left office as Prime Minister and Head of the Conservative Party after it was roundly defeated in the last UK general elections.
Few days later, she responded through one of her aides that she stood by what she has said about Nigeria and that she would not do Public Relations for the country.
Indications that there would be a frosty relationship between Nigeria and Kemi emerged after she was elected to lead the conservative party when Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Head of Nigeria Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), congratulated her and formally reach out to her. But Dabiri was shocked when her letter was neither acknowledged nor responded to.
The tide is now gradually turning against Badenoch, as many Nigerians are fed up with her constant denigration of the country. A Nigerian, James Akinwande, who lives in London, in a recorded viral video, purchased a pair of shoes and a wristwatch in a UK store which he has delivered to her home. He said that he was happy to replace the pair of shoes and wristwatch that Badenoch alleged were stolen from her brother by officers of the Nigeria Police Force. At the end of the video, Akinwande wrote: “On behalf of every proud Nigerian who felt genuinely hurt by those unfounded disparaging remarks about the Nigerian Police. We ‘buy back’ the stolen shoes and watch! (I hope it fits, tho..).”
Bolaji Akinyemi, a former Nigerian minister of external affairs, said that Kemi Badenoch will soon learn her lesson that you don’t throw your people and your culture under the bus. Akinyemi, a former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), believes that Badenoch is making a mistake denigrating Nigeria on the global stage to “advance her political career”.
The renowned Professor of Political Science said that the UK Conservative party leader should leave Nigeria alone and focus on strengthening her party in Britain. “How the daughter of a professor of UNILAG, her father who was a medical doctor, a girl who went to the international school at UNILAG would make it sound like she was selling groundnut and selling water in Lagos to advance her political career. She would soon learn that you don’t throw your people and your culture under the bus to advance your career. She is making a mistake but she would soon learn.’’
My advice to Kemi is to tone down her constant denigration of Nigeria. She has a job that demands 24 hours of her time. We are not asking her to do PR for Nigeria, but she should stop denigrating the country. In the same vein, it is time for our leaders to wake up and face the task of governance with all the seriousness it deserves. The country is blessed by God, but endemic corruption and incompetence has been the bane of our development. Kemi’s constant criticism should be seen as a wake-up call to better the lot of Nigerians by our leaders.
See you next week.
- Akintunde is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Glittersonline newspaper. His syndicated column, Monday Discourse, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays.