The Federal Government has faulted the claim by the Leader of the British Conservative Party, Ms. Kemi Badenoch, that Nigeria law does not allow women to pass on citizenship to their children.
Badenoch had claimed that she cannot pass on her Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman.
In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, Ms. Badenoch said while many Nigerians are taking advantage of the UK’s relatively easy citizenship acquisition process, it remains “virtually impossible to get Nigerian citizenship. I had that citizenship by virtue of my parents; I can’t give it to my children because I’m a woman”, she said.
Reacting to the claim, the spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, told The Nation that Badenoch’s claim was disturbing because it lacks veracity.
“This is a false and very disturbing narrative because Section 25 of the Nigerian Constitution allows citizenship by descent to children born abroad, if either parent is a Nigerian citizen, with no gender distinction,” he said.
Also, Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga described Badenoch’s claim as false.
In a post on his X handle yesterday, Onanuga said Badenoch owed her fatherland an apology for the misleading statement.
He said: “Britain should send our lost daughter, Kemi Badenoch, home for a proper re-education. Section 25 of our Constitution defines who has the right to Nigerian citizenship.
“Kemi Badenoch lied. She owes her fatherland some apology.”
Quoting Section 25 of the Nigerian Constitution, Onanuga emphasised that every person born outside Nigeria is a citizen by birth if either of their parents is a Nigerian citizen.
Quoting the section, he said: “25. (1) The following persons are citizens of Nigeria by birth, namely- (a) every person born in Nigeria before the date of independence, either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents belongs or belonged to a community indigenous to Nigeria; Provided that a person shall not become a citizen of Nigeria by virtue of this section if neither of his parents nor any of his grandparents was born in Nigeria.
“(b) every person born in Nigeria after the date of independence, either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents is a citizen of Nigeria; and (c) every person born outside Nigeria either of whose parents is a citizen of Nigeria. (2) In this section, “the date of independence” means the 1st day of October 1960.”
Source; The Nation News
