A Green Party candidate in London, UK, who has publicly backed slavery reparations from Britain, is reportedly descended from a Nigerian royal family with documented ties to the slave trade. Antoinette Fernandez, who is running as a councillor for Lea Bridge in Hackney, east London, has called for the UK to pay reparations connected to the transatlantic slave trade. She serves as the "reparations officer" for the Green Party’s Global Majority Greens group, which campaigns on racial and environmental justice issues.
Fernandez is the daughter of Abiola Dosunmu, the Queen Mother of Lagos, and the late Antonio Deinde Fernandez, a billionaire businessman, former UN ambassador, and oil magnate who was once listed among Africa’s wealthiest men, according to the Daily Mail.
Through her mother, Fernandez is descended from the Obas, or rulers, of Lagos. Historians have described some members of that royal line as significant participants in the slave trade. Historical accounts cited in the reporting say one ancestor owned 1,400 slaves, while another arranged for enslaved people previously sent to Brazil to return to Lagos for construction work.
Fernandez has previously defended calls for reparations. After a UN vote in March supporting reparations from former colonial powers, she said: "Britain and the US in particular need to acknowledge the inhumane crimes they inflicted on the African people for centuries and the ongoing impact of those crimes on the Global South."
In response to the revelations, critics from Reform UK and the Conservatives attacked her position. Laila Cunningham, Reform UK's London mayoral candidate, called Fernandez "the ultimate hypocrite." She said: "While Brits are crushed by the cost-of-living crisis, she demands we fork out billions more in slave reparations, even though Britain has already spent tens of billions wiping out the slave trade."
Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake also criticized the Green Party, saying Fernandez’s candidacy "fits a pattern" and adding: "The Greens are not a serious political force. They have been captured by hard-Left activism and student politics."
The Green Party pushed back against scrutiny of Fernandez’s family history, saying coverage of her ancestry was "racist" and amounted to a "bad-faith attempt to undermine the case for reparative justice."
Fernandez is the daughter of Abiola Dosunmu, the Queen Mother of Lagos, and the late Antonio Deinde Fernandez, a billionaire businessman, former UN ambassador, and oil magnate who was once listed among Africa’s wealthiest men, according to the Daily Mail.
Through her mother, Fernandez is descended from the Obas, or rulers, of Lagos. Historians have described some members of that royal line as significant participants in the slave trade. Historical accounts cited in the reporting say one ancestor owned 1,400 slaves, while another arranged for enslaved people previously sent to Brazil to return to Lagos for construction work.
Fernandez has previously defended calls for reparations. After a UN vote in March supporting reparations from former colonial powers, she said: "Britain and the US in particular need to acknowledge the inhumane crimes they inflicted on the African people for centuries and the ongoing impact of those crimes on the Global South."
In response to the revelations, critics from Reform UK and the Conservatives attacked her position. Laila Cunningham, Reform UK's London mayoral candidate, called Fernandez "the ultimate hypocrite." She said: "While Brits are crushed by the cost-of-living crisis, she demands we fork out billions more in slave reparations, even though Britain has already spent tens of billions wiping out the slave trade."
Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake also criticized the Green Party, saying Fernandez’s candidacy "fits a pattern" and adding: "The Greens are not a serious political force. They have been captured by hard-Left activism and student politics."
The Green Party pushed back against scrutiny of Fernandez’s family history, saying coverage of her ancestry was "racist" and amounted to a "bad-faith attempt to undermine the case for reparative justice."
