In the footage, Akinwande is seen taking the constitution from the Nigerian High Commission in the UK and proceeding to the Conservative Party office to drop it off.
AUK-based Nigerian man, James Akinwande, has stirred fresh waves of online reaction after personally delivering a copy of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution to the London office of British Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, following her controversial remarks that she cannot pass Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman.
Akinwande, known on social media for previously gifting Badenoch a wristwatch and a pair of shoes after she claimed her brother’s shoes and wristwatch were stolen during a visit to Nigeria, shared a video of the symbolic act on Instagram.
“Nigerian Citizenship by Descent… A quick trip to the Nigeria High Commission, London… and then, Whitehall… Conservatives HQ,” he captioned the post. “If you know, you know.”
In the footage, Akinwande is seen taking the constitution from the Nigerian High Commission in the UK and proceeding to the Conservative Party office to drop it off.
According to him, the move was meant to educate the rising UK politician about Section 25 of the Nigerian Constitution, which provides for citizenship by descent, regardless of the parents’ gender.
His stunt came days after Badenoch claimed during a CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria that she could not transmit Nigerian citizenship to her children because she is a woman.
Her claims sparked outrage among Nigerians and constitutional experts alike.
She said, “This is exploitation of a system that was not designed for this sort of thing. You have to be honest about that. So you say to somebody who’s coming from Nigeria and wants to create a little mini-Nigeria in Britain – ‘No, that is not right.’ And Nigerians would not tolerate that. That’s not something that many countries would accept.
“There are many people who come to our country, to the UK, who do things that would not be acceptable in their countries. It’s virtually impossible, for example, 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. Yet loads of Nigerians come to the UK, stay for a relatively brief period of time, acquire British citizenship. We need to stop being naive.”
Her comments drew sharp criticism from multiple quarters, including the Nigerian Presidency.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, publicly called for Badenoch to be “sent back home for proper re-education,” referencing Section 25 of Nigeria’s constitution, which clearly states that any child born outside Nigeria to a Nigerian parent, mother or father, is entitled to citizenship by birth.
Badenoch, who is of Nigerian descent and is the leader of the UK Conservative Party, also has also come under fire for her controversial views on immigration, multiculturalism, and foreign cultures.
In the same CNN interview, she argued that “not all cultures are equal,” and condemned what she described as the UK’s “conveyor belt” citizenship policy.
Badenoch also took aim at asylum fraud, revealing that some migrants falsely claim to be homosexuals or convert to Christianity simply to gain refugee status in the UK.
“We need to stop being naive,” Badenoch had said, claiming some migrants “pretend to be gay or convert to Christianity” just to get asylum. She also railed against immigrants who she claimed tried to “recreate mini-Nigerias” in the UK.
