- Tobi Adegboyega, a UK-based pastor, has refuted the British Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch‘s assertion that Nigeria encourages questionable behavior among its citizens.
- Badenoch, a former Nigerian trolling leader, made the accusation during an interview with a UK journalist.
- She accused the Nigerian Police of stealing from the masses they were obligated to protect.
A contentious pastor based in the United Kingdom, Tobi Adegboyega, has refuted assertions made by Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the British Conservative Party, regarding Nigeria as a nation that compels its citizens to partake in dubious activities.
Badenoch, who had previously criticized Nigeria prior to her leadership role in the UK opposition party, made these claims during an interview with a journalist in the UK. She further accused the Nigerian Police of exploiting the very citizens they are sworn to protect.
In response, Adegboyega, whose organization SPAC Nation was recently dissolved by the British Government due to allegations of mismanagement involving £1.87 million in church funds, challenged her statements, asserting that no place in the world is entirely secure.
The pastor expressed his views while appearing as a guest on the Monday edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today. He stated, “I completely disagree with that statement. Between 2023 and 2024, about 78,000 bags and phones were snatched in London and the UK alone. There’s a very strong Nigerian black community in this nation.For people like the leader of the opposition (party) you just mentioned to get to that position, they’ve been fighting on the street. There were funerals where kids were killed in the UK. They buried three kids from the same parents.
“And we ask the question when the Nigerian community control these things in the UK, where are these voices? They have been fighting. The Windrush, which has to do with Jamaicans. People have been fighting before a black person or black immigrant can ascend to those seats.”
Furthermore, Adegboyega emphasized that while conditions may be difficult for his compatriots in Nigeria, this does not justify the disparagement of the country as expressed by Badenoch. He also highlighted that the number of young black men in UK prisons and mental health facilities significantly exceeds those in educational institutions.
“So we cannot disassociate from where we are coming from. We are not denying the fact that our country has issues and we are also not as old as the advanced economies like Britain, but we cannot say things are all dark because it’s not true.
“We live on the street and know what is going on here. We know that prisons and mostly mental hospitals have more young black people than schools in the UK.
“When SPAC Nation began, we started sending people to Harvard, Cambridge and also have the highest number in Imperial College.”
