Why Kemi Badenoch’s criticism won’t affect Nigeria – Daniel Bwala

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  Speaking on the need to build trust and position the Conservative Party as a solution to Britain’s challenges, Badenoch warned of the risks of Britain’s system faltering and likened it to governance issues in Nigeria.

• She drew the analogy during her first speech of the year at an event organised by Onward, a British think-tank.

The Presidency has said UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch’s recent comments will have no impact on Nigeria.

Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communications, made this statement on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.

Bwala responded to Badenoch’s statement that she doesn’t want the UK to become like Nigeria, citing its “terrible” government.

When asked about the effect of Badenoch’s words on Nigeria, Bwala said, “I don’t think it would have 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.

“Secondly, because she’s a Nigerian, investors will be smart enough to access what she’s saying, whether it is born out of rhetoric.”

Bwala acknowledged Badenoch’s UK achievements but noted she was exploiting populism to fuel public anger.

“So, she’s building a rhetoric of demarketing Nigeria so she can probably win the acceptance of the rights in her party, and that to me is counterproductive because,” he added.

Bwala urged Badenoch to emulate former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who didn’t denigrate India despite its rape crisis.

“There is a part of her that is a product of Nigeria, apart from the fact that she was born to Nigerian parents. Secondly, Nigeria is not the problem of the United Kingdom.

“Recently there was a report about gang rape in the UK that spanned close to 20 years, where the police were held culpable for not reporting it because they thought if they did that it was going to be considered as profiling.

“Do you know she has not talked about that? There are crimes in the United Kingdom and you can count several things you can use to demarket the United Kingdom.”