Seun Kuti, the enigmatic son of late Afrobeat maestro Fela Anikulapo Kuti, has called for the ban of British Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch for her disparaging statement about Nigeria.
He also took Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima to the cleaners for his remark on the conversation MP’s action and strings of negative utterances about Nigeria.
Badenoch, who was born and raised in Nigeria, have recently made statements that cast aspersion at the country of her birth, describing Nigeria as “a place where almost everything seemed broken”.
On more than one occasion she drew contrast between the United Kingdom and Nigeria, even saying that she does not want the UK to become like the country she ran away from.
Her statements drew the ire of Nigerians, including Vice President Kashim Shettima, who advised her to drop her first name, to sever all ties with Nigeria, but Kuti lambasted the VP for not putting Badenoch in her place.
Shettima took a swipe at Badenoch, urging her to learn from Rishi Sunak – the UK’s first prime minister of Indian heritage – whom he described as “a brilliant young man” who “never denigrated his nation of ancestry”.
Seun Kuti said, “African governments should come out and ban her from coming to Africa. They should sanction her and threaten to send her to jail… and not proud of her.”
He said African governments should learn from the treatment meted out by Israel on Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein, who were declared personae non-grate in Israel despite being two of the world’s most famous, intellectual and successful Jews for speaking ill about their homeland.
Seun Kuti also lambasted VP Shettima for saying Nigerians are proud of Bedenoch, saying, “How can you be proud of somebody that is looking down on Nigeria?”
