Daniel Bwala, the presidential spokesman, has charged Kemi Badenoch, the new leader of the UK’s Conservative Party, with purposefully disparaging Nigeria in order to win over her party’s right-wing supporters.
Described as a nation where the government has failed, Badenoch recently said she does not want the UK to become like Nigeria.
The Nigerian government has criticized her comments, and Bwala claims that her speech is driven by politics.
Bwala, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communications, stated on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, which our correspondent watched, that Badenoch’s comments are intended to strengthen her standing with Conservative Party members.
“The only problem we have with Kemi, I think, is the rhetoric because Kemi belongs to the right base in the United Kingdom, which is what you see in this populism around the world—that you can deepen your support system if you feed off of the anger of the people,” Bwala said.
“She’s building a rhetoric of denigrating and demarketing Nigeria so she can probably win the acceptance of the right in her party. And that, to me, is counterproductive.”
While India has experienced challenges like gang-related violence, Bwala compared Badenoch’s strategy with that of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is of Indian descent, noting that Sunak has never exploited these difficulties to disparage his nation in order to advance his political career.
“If you look at Rishi Sunak, he is also of Indian origin. There has been this issue of gang rape in India. He has never used that as a weapon to promote what he believes to be a departure from what is likely to be believed as hereditary or history of the Indian people,” he noted. “But she has always denigrated Nigeria.”
Despite the controversy, Bwala dismissed concerns that Badenoch’s comments would negatively impact Nigeria’s efforts to attract foreign investment.
“I don’t think it would have an effect because she’s not the government in power. Usually, these international relationships or collaborations are dealings between governments. Because she’s not the government in power, it will not have any effect,” he explained.
Investors, he added, would see Badenoch’s remarks as political posturing rather than a true assessment of Nigeria’s economic situation.
Second, investors would be able to determine whether her statements are rhetorical because she is a Nigerian, Bwala stated.
On November 2, 2024, Badenoch was declared the new head of the Conservative Party; he has not yet addressed the concerns from the Nigerian government.