- Safiu Kehinde
Former Nigerian Minister of External Affairs, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, has said Britain’s Conservative party and Nigeria-raised, Kemi Badenoch will soon learn her lessons.
The Professor of Political Science, stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday, warning the UK Conservative party leader to leave Nigeria alone and focus on strengthening her party in Britain.
Prof Akinyemi, a former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), warned that Badenoch was making a mistake denigrating Nigeria on the global stage to “advance her political career”.
He said, “How the daughter of a professor of UNILAG, her father who was a medical doctor, a girl who went to the international school at UNILAG would make it sound like she was selling groundnut and selling water in Lagos to advance her political career.
“She would soon learn that you don’t throw your people and your culture under the bus to advance your career. She is making a mistake but she would soon learn.
“After all, right now, there is even Right Wing political party in the United Kingdom that is even to the right of the Conservative Party. So, what she should be focusing on is how to regain that rightwing profile of the Conservative Party and leave Nigeria alone.”
Recall that Badenoch has been vocal in her criticism against Nigeria.
She had, last year, traded words with Vice President Kashim Shettima who accused her of denigrating Nigeria.