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Tuesday, January 6, 2026

U.S.’ capture of Maduro ‘morally right;’ his govt was similar to Nigeria’s military juntas: Kemi Badenoch

Ms Badenoch said that Maduro “was overseeing a brutal regime, and I’m glad he’s gone.”

• January 6, 2026
President Nicolás Maduro
President Nicolás Maduro

The UK Conservative Party’s leader, Kemi Badenoch, has lauded U.S. military capture of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro as “morally right,” adding that she grew up under brutal military regimes similar to Maduro’s in Nigeria.

The Tory leader on Tuesday told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the U.S. capture of Mr Maduro was an “extraordinary” action, noting that she understood the reason for it.

“Where the legal certainty is not yet clear, morally, I do think it was the right thing to do,” Ms Badenoch said, adding that Maduro “was overseeing a brutal regime, and I’m glad he’s gone.”

Ms Badenoch, 46, who spent her childhood years in Nigeria, her home country, before returning to the UK at 16, described Mr Maduro as an illegitimate president, likening his government to Nigeria’s military regimes.

“I grew up under a military dictatorship, so I know what it’s like to have someone like Maduro in charge,” Ms Badenoch said, adding that Maduro led a “gangster state in Venezuela”

Ms Badenoch’s statement followed Mr Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces on Saturday. Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were moved to the U.S. where they are facing trial on cocaine trafficking charge among others.

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