Kemi Badenoch became the first Black woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom last week. Her mother is Mrs Feyikemi Adegoke, a Professor of Physiology in the United States of America. The father, Femi Adegoke, who died in July 2022, was a medical doctor who ran a clinic in Lagos, Nigeria.

However, not all Africans in the United Kingdom or elsewhere are cheering. "Badenoch is an ultra-right-wing, imperialist apologist, and anti-LGBTQ rights politician who has aligned herself with wealthy conservative White men to pursue Tory leadership," says Londoner Paul Boakye, who penned "The Ultimate Guide to Buying and Selling Land in Ghana" and other articles for Port of Harlem.

"She needs an education," professed Dele Ogun, whose excerpt from his new book A Slave Ship Called Jesus appeared in the last issue of Port of Harlem. Ogun has law offices in London and Lagos.

If history is a guide, Ogun concludes that her victory is not one for Africans to celebrate. "Before her, Paul Boateng and Kwesi Kwarteng (both Ghanaians) achieved "first Black" status in the British Cabinet for the Labour Party and Conservative Party, respectively, and neither moved the needle for Africa generally or their fatherland specifically. The prospects of Kemi Badenoch having a more positive impact is even more remote because, unlike Boateng and Kwarteng, in her quest for the office she went out of her way to denigrate her father's land."

Boakye agreees,"While her status as the first Black leader of a mainstream political party in England is notable for her ambition, she’s no ally to everyday Black British people."

However, Afenifere, a Yoruba socio-cultural organization that advocates for the interests of the Yoruba people in Nigeria, called her" a pride to the Black race," reports the Nigerian Guardian newspaper. She is now the highest major political office African in the Western Hemisphere.

The new leader of the Tory party was born in London to Nigerian parents and spent part of her childhood in Nigeria, the world's most populous African country.  She advocated for a low-tax, free-market economy and has criticized multiculturalism.

After ruling Britain for 14 years, the party is seeking to recover from a major election loss earlier this year. It was the party's worst-ever defeat.