The Nigerian Presidency has dismissed comments made by Kemi Badenoch, the newly elected leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, about her upbringing in Nigeria, labeling them as “cock and bull stories.”
In a statement on Monday, President Bola Tinubu’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, accused Badenoch of fabricating her claims about Nigeria. Ajayi particularly criticized her 2022 remarks where she alleged that Nigerian politicians misused public funds and described her childhood in the country as one filled with fear and insecurity due to widespread corruption.
Ajayi’s statement came after Badenoch’s recent election as Conservative Party leader in November 2024. Despite outreach efforts by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Badenoch reportedly declined to engage with the Nigerian government.
Reacting on X (formerly Twitter), Ajayi wrote:
“You are Kemi Badenoch, an opposition leader and a future Prime Minister of the UK. A journalist asked you about the state of the police in the country you hope to govern.
“Instead of answering with plans to make the police more efficient and accountable in the UK, you resorted to a baseless cock and bull story about Nigerian policemen stealing your brother’s shoe.
“For someone who has lied about her upbringing in Nigeria just to create a feel-good narrative to keep her new job, how can we trust her claims? Her story of carrying a desk and chair to school at ISL doesn’t add up. Her claim of having no clean water to drink is pure fiction for someone from an upper-middle-class family.
“Her mother was a university professor, and her father was a prominent medical doctor who owned a well-known private hospital serving a wealthy clientele.”
Ajayi also dismissed Badenoch’s accounts as attempts to tarnish Nigeria’s image for personal gain, criticizing her narrative as both exaggerated and untruthful.
Badenoch’s controversial remarks have sparked significant debate, with many Nigerians questioning the authenticity of her claims about her upbringing.
_____________________________________
Opeoluwa Benson – Content Researcher
