Ex-Nigerian minister of external affairs, Bolaji Akinyemi, has stated that Britain’s Conservative party and Nigeria-raised Kemi Badenoch will soon learn that it is not right to throw your people and your culture under the bus.

He stated that Badenoch was making a big mistake denigrating Nigeria on the global stage to “advance her political career”.

He said this as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday, January 20, 2025.

Akinyemi stated: “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.”

In 2022, Badenoch, a UK member of parliament of Nigerian descent and then UK Prime Minister hopeful, accused Nigerian politicians of using public funds for their private matters.