The Presidency has strongly refuted claims made by Kemi Badenoch, the newly elected leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, regarding her childhood in Nigeria.
Calling her story a “cock and bull tale,” President Bola Tinubu’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, criticized Badenoch’s recounting of an alleged incident where her brother’s shoes were stolen by Nigerian police officers.
In an interview, Badenoch shared a narrative about her brother being robbed by police, alongside other personal anecdotes about her upbringing in Nigeria.
She described the challenging conditions she faced growing up, including walking to school with a desk and chair and lacking access to clean drinking water.
However, Ajayi swiftly dismissed these claims as fabricated, questioning the authenticity of Badenoch’s entire account.
READ ALSO: South Korea Lawmakers Vote to Impeach President Yoon Over Martial Law Bid
In a statement via his X handle, Ajayi remarked, “You are Kemi Badenoch, an opposition leader and a future Prime Minister of the UK.
A journalist asked you about the state of the police in the country you hope to govern. Instead of addressing how you would improve policing in the UK, you resorted to telling a bizarre story about police officers stealing your brother’s shoes in Nigeria.”
Ajayi continued to challenge the credibility of her statements, alleging that her accounts of growing up in Nigeria were inconsistent with the reality of her privileged background.
“Her claim of carrying a desk and chair to class at ISL doesn’t add up.
The notion that she had no clean water to drink is complete nonsense for someone raised in an upper-middle-class family, with a mother who was a university professor and a father who was a successful doctor running a private hospital,” he said.
This back-and-forth between the Nigerian presidency and the UK politician has stirred public debate, raising questions about the accuracy of her recollections and the reasons behind them.