A former Dulwich College pupil, Yinka Bankole, has gone public with allegations that Nigel Farage directed a racist remark at him when they were both students at the prestigious south London school.
According to The Guardian UK, Bankole said he chose to speak out after watching what he described as the Reform UK leader’s attempts to “deny or dismiss” the hurt experienced by those who claim to have been targets of his behaviour.
Bankole, who attended the school between 1980 and 1981, recalled being just nine years old when a 17-year-old Farage approached him in the playground. He said Farage asked where he was from and, after his confused answer, responded with: “That’s the way back to Africa,” while making a hand gesture pointing into the distance.
He said the alleged harassment did not stop there, explaining that Farage “would wait at the lower-school gate… so as to repeat the vulgarity”. Bankole added that what struck him most was the “look of hatred he had for me, seemingly simply for existing”.
Farage, during a press conference on Thursday, insisted he had never made racist or antisemitic comments “with malice”. He instead criticised the BBC and ITV for questioning him about the ongoing investigation by The Guardian UK, accusing the broadcasters of “double standards and hypocrisy”.
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Bankole, now 54 and an engineer, said his Nigerian parents, who migrated to the UK in the 1950s, were proud when he gained admission into the well-known institution, but the alleged encounters with Farage left a lasting memory. He described Farage’s recent explanations as the “most amazingly disingenuous example of the phrase ‘let he without sin cast the first stone’”.
Farage has maintained that any comments he might have made as a teenager were “banter” rather than targeted racism, denying he ever said anything hurtful “directly” or “with intent”. His lawyer had earlier “categorically denied” the allegations on his behalf.
Bankole is one of 28 former Dulwich pupils who told The Guardian UK that they witnessed or experienced racist or antisemitic behaviour involving Farage during their school years. He initially spoke anonymously but said he felt compelled to reveal his identity after Farage’s recent denials.
Responding to Farage’s claim that memories from the 1970s and early 1980s could not be reliable, Bankole said: “Can a victim of such abuse ever forget? I know I haven’t forgotten. I recognise his walk every time I see it on TV.”
He said leaving the school after one year was a “stroke of luck” driven by high fees and family relocation. Reflecting on what might have happened had he stayed longer, he described the prospect as “truly a chilling thought”.
