Fareed Zakaria Must Grant Nigeria a Right of Reply
Her day of ridicule may be near. But in the circumstance of her latest duplicitous rant, the Federal Government of Nigeria should communicate a demand to RIGHT OF REPLY to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria to debunk the latest stench Kemi just released like a fart. Reno Omokri will do a good job of this. Time to dispatch him is now!
The way Kemi Badenoch is going around and about, shading Nigeria in the most unflattering fashion, you would wonder if the contest for British PM office is between her Conservative Party and Nigeria. I mean, where is the bile from this vilest form of reckless commentary coming from? Folorunso Fatai Adisa, a friend of mine, who is a resident student in the UK, cracked a joke sometime ago asking if there was a man in Nigeria who broke Kemi’s heart. I will now throw up some names who ought to have “femi-ed” and pampered Kemi but probably snubbed her? Femi Fani Kayode, Femi Adesina, Femi Akinwunmi. You should all explain why you did not ‘Fe’Kemi‘ and save us this buccal horror. Because for me, this parroting of lies and fictional verbosity against the Nigerian nation is only fathomable from the ratiocination of a failed romance. Nigeria appears like a boyfriend who once jilted you or that you have jilted but cannot get over. But should she take it out on the whole country?
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I know there have been jokes and innuendos about Kemi’s disintegration of virtue, but within this haze of fury and disgust, let’s crunch some data that scrutinise her angst and misrepresentations against immigrants.
According to information from the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), immigrants to the UK, particularly those from outside the EU, have contributed significantly to the British economy by paying more in taxes than they receive in benefits and public services, with estimates bordering on a positive net of around £4.6 billion. In a 12 February report of the Office for National Statistics, immigrants contribute approximately £83 billion to UK’s economic output annually. And when you look at the number of educated Nigerians in the United Kingdom, from doctors to nurses and across various sectors of professional endeavour, you can imagine how much Nigerians contribute to the UK in societal impact. But how does attacking Nigeria add to Kemi’s leverage as an electoral asset for the Tories? Before 2024, approximate 270,768 were born in Nigeria and living in England and Wales. Those who identify their ethnicity as Nigerians were 271,390. This represents just 0.5 per cent of the entire UK population. So, of what value is denigrating Nigeria to Kemi?
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No matter how Kemi tries, therefore, she’ll never be WHITE and the real Brits know themselves. She can aim for office – that ambition is within her rights – but undermining the dignity of other races (and her own) reflect poorly on her. The ideal beauty in virtue is that ambition can drive us to aspire, but it should not be by presenting a whole race on a slab for slaughter. More so, Kemi ought not to weaponise her children in crass dishonesty for political gain.
Why is it that rather than concentrate on a campaign strategy that positions her above the Labour Party, she has narrowed her campaign thrust to Nigeria and continues to lampoon immigrants like they’re parasitic without value. It is simple: The current anti-immigrant wave which propelled Donald Trump to office is what defines Kemi’s playbook. She is of the strong opinion that any candidate who can pillory immigrants will appeal to the sentiments of the white supremacist voting bloc, whose numbers are critical for ascension to office. And considering that about 52,000 Nigerians relocated to the UK in 2024, Kemi, being clever by half, found no issues with Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Indian immigrants. She elected to hang her own people, her own heritage, by the noose.
Kemi is fulfilling, in perfect summation, the description of Edwin Louis Cole that “the pattern of the prodigal is rebellion and ruin.” Even as he ended the quote with “repentance and restoration,” I do not see that happening to Kemi. She’s a lost cause, especially as James Boswell aptly reinforces the myopia of wilful villains when he said, “if a man is prodigal, he cannot be truly generous.” We should therefore understand that Kemi Badenoch’s deliberate spin of falsehoods and her obsequious and servile, attention-seeking denigration of immigrants, many of who contribute to the growth of the UK, are indicative of a patronising, virtue-signalling to fit into a psycho-genocidal fiction, where immigrants are perceived as irritants and possess the nuisance reverse-value for campaign troll, preparatory to the policy of extinction. Unfortunately, however, no mater how she tries to disassemble the links to her heritage, this conservative wannabe-racist’s names are Olukemi Olufunto. She’s Yoruba from Nigeria and a daughter of immigrants. She was born in England, taken back to Nigeria, enjoyed Nigeria’s communal culture and warmth and did not return to the UK till she was 16.
…whoever has the responsibility as Kemi’s hairdresser and general in charge of her grooming should do a better job. It may seem no matter how they try, she looks numerous years past her real age.
No matter how Kemi tries, therefore, she’ll never be WHITE and the real Brits know themselves. She can aim for office – that ambition is within her rights – but undermining the dignity of other races (and her own) reflect poorly on her. The ideal beauty in virtue is that ambition can drive us to aspire, but it should not be by presenting a whole race on a slab for slaughter. More so, Kemi ought not to weaponise her children in crass dishonesty for political gain. And for this, history will not judge her kindly. And that office, she may never get. Her day of ridicule may be near. But in the circumstance of her latest duplicitous rant, the Federal Government of Nigeria should communicate a demand to RIGHT OF REPLY to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria to debunk the latest stench Kemi just released like a fart. Reno Omokri will do a good job of this. Time to dispatch him is now!
Finally, whoever has the responsibility as Kemi’s hairdresser and general in charge of her grooming should do a better job. It may seem no matter how they try, she looks numerous years past her real age.
Akin Fadeyi is founder/executive director, Akin Fadeyi Foundation.
