In Nigeria, the phrase “colonial mentality” is used to describe the mentality of those who believe that everything is better when “white men” are in charge! The leader of the British Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, who is the first black woman to lead a major British political party, has quite rightly received a lot of criticism from Nigerian politicians and media practitioners over her penchant for rubbishing our country despite our handicapping by colonialists!
Even though many people who are more intelligent, more compassionate, better educated, better mannered, and more conscious of their racial identity than Badenoch live in Nigeria she describes our country as a “living hell”. In Nigerian English we would say “don’t blame her, it’s not her fault, it’s a result of her upbringing”. In her case it isn’t her parental upbringing that’s the problem, rather it is her failure to see herself as the “honorary British person” that she is! In the United Kingdom white people are either English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish and come from the United Kingdom (UK); mainly non-whites like Badenoch are classified as British!
When the UK was forcibly looting most of the mineral-rich non-white nations causing them to remain underdeveloped, the empire they built was called the “British Empire” and they granted “British citizenship” status to non-whites as a favour. Being born in the UK is not an achievement. In black communities there will be those who are privileged like Kemi, but they should not gloat in their privilege and insult those who never had the opportunity.
Badenoch campaigned on an anti-people platform of reducing the role of government in subsidising the welfare of the poor and underprivileged. Her attitude is not surprising because she is proud to be an agnostic who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the non-existence of God or a God. Many Nigerian newspapers mistakenly refer to Badenoch as “Nigerian-born”, which is not true. She was born in 1980 in the UK as Olukemi Adegoke, but mainly grew up in Nigeria speaking Yoruba language. She left Nigeria for England at the age of 16 and assumed her British identity.
She was amongst the last to benefit from the birthright citizenship rules which Margaret Thatcher abolished in 1981. It comes as no surprise that Badenoch defends British colonialism and doesn’t embrace her Nigerian roots, because being both immature and not well versed in colonial history when she left Nigeria, she had no knowledge of the damage the British did to West Africa and its ethnic nationalities when they amalgamated them into an unwieldy country they named Nigeria, which has no meaning in any of the local languages.
Even as Badenoch defended the controversial Sewell Report which found, despite overwhelming evidence, that Britain was not institutionally racist, she is on record as saying, “I don’t want this country (England) to turn into the one I ran away from (Nigeria)”. Shehu Sani, a former Senator representing Kaduna Central, has warned her that no matter how much and how long adopted children love their new home and hate their ancestral home, there will come a day when they will be reminded by their adopted home that they do not belong there.
In the United States of America, African-Americans are continuously reminded of their roots, but in the UK there is nothing like “African-British” to constantly remind the likes of Badenoch where they truly belong. She never tires of referring to Nigerians as corrupt and inept, and claims quite absurdly that lizards run out of our taps and she walked miles to get running water! A former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, who has mastered the art of using impeccable English to denigrate people whom he takes exception to, described her in the most unpleasant terms.
He referred to her as a dangerous and willing tool of colonialists whose leadership does not demonstrate any change in the reprehensible policies of the Conservative Party, whose views and policies suppress black and brown peoples.
Fani-Kayode says, quite correctly, that even though Nigeria has issues, we must never support those that denigrate our country for their personal political gains.
The chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission Abike Dabiri-Erewa, should not have tried to reach out to a person like Badenoch who believes that Nigeria is a hell on earth while Britain is paradise, and evidently regrets not being born with a white skin. Her “success” in politics raises the question of whether representation alone is a win for Black, minority and migrant communities.
People like Kemi Badenoch are successful because they are prepared to mock their culture and speak in unpalatable terms about their heritage. However, it is important for her success to be placed in perspective. She is the sixth leader of the Conservative Party in a decade. British political analysts say that if she possesses any fresh thinking about solving the problems of the British underprivileged in terms of housing shortages, rejuvenating public services or addressing any of the other large challenges facing Britain, she has not shared them with anybody!
Many moderate Conservative Members of Parliament agree that she will “crash and burn very quickly”. Kemi Badenoch should not be blamed for her “colonial mentality”, her privileged life explains how she developed such warped thinking. Nigeria isn’t by any means the worst country in the world. She must purge herself by learning how to say sorry and say it a lot!
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