Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Chair of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, stated that her office attempted to contact Kemi Badenoch, the newly elected leader of the UK Conservative Party, but did not receive a response.
Dabiri-Erewa shared this during an interview on The Morning Brief on Channels Television on Wednesday. She added that the Nigerian government would not pressure Badenoch to acknowledge her Nigerian heritage.
“It depends on whether she embraces her Nigerian identity. We reached out to her once or twice, but there was no response. We don’t force anyone to acknowledge being Nigerian,” Dabiri-Erewa said.
“We are open to working with anyone who sees themselves as Nigerian, but it’s not something we can force.”
Badenoch was born in London in 1980, but spent part of her childhood in Lagos and the US.
