The leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch

The Nigerian presidency has responded sharply to recent claims made by UK Conservative Party leader and Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch regarding her inability to pass Nigerian citizenship to her children.

Badenoch, in an interview aired Sunday on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, said it was “virtually impossible” to get Nigerian citizenship and asserted that her children could not inherit her Nigerian citizenship because she is a woman.

“It’s virtually impossible, for example, to get Nigerian citizenship. I have that citizenship by virtue of my parents. 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 and acquire British citizenship. We need to stop being naive,” she said during the interview.

Reacting to her comments on Monday, Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Social Media Dada Olusegun accused Badenoch of misrepresenting Nigeria’s constitutional laws.

In a post shared via his official X handle, Olusegun described her remarks as a “dangerous and desperate attempt to malign Nigeria,” calling on her to stop what he called a “continuous lie” against her country of origin.

“Aunty @KemiBadenoch, why do you continue to lie against your motherland?” he asked. “Chapter 3, Section 25(1)(c) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution clearly states that if a Nigerian woman is a citizen by birth, her children—whether born in Nigeria or abroad—automatically qualify as citizens by descent. This applies regardless of the father’s nationality.”

Legal experts have also weighed in, reaffirming that the 1999 Constitution guarantees Nigerian citizenship to anyone born outside the country if at least one parent is a Nigerian citizen by birth. This provision does not discriminate by gender.

Under Nigerian law, citizenship by birth offers full legal rights, including the right to enter the country freely, vote, and enjoy constitutional protections. Dual citizenship is also permitted under Section 28(1), provided the individual is a Nigerian citizen by birth.

While Badenoch’s children are eligible for Nigerian citizenship through her, her Scottish husband would not automatically qualify. Section 26(2)(a) of the Constitution allows foreign women married to Nigerian men to apply for citizenship by registration, but there is no reciprocal provision for foreign men married to Nigerian women.

Badenoch, born in the UK to Nigerian parents, spent part of her childhood in Lagos before relocating to the UK at age 16. She is currently a rising figure within the British Conservative Party and has often spoken about her Nigerian heritage.

However, Olusegun’s rebuttal underscores growing concern in Nigeria over what the presidency describes as repeated attempts by prominent diaspora figures to cast the country in a negative light on the international stage.