By Arogbonlo Israel
The first Nigerian-American, Mr Oye Owolewa to be elected to the United States Congress emerged early on Wednesday morning as a Democrat to represent Washington D.C.
Recall at least, nine Nigerian-Americans are in the race at the federal, state and local levels.
Oye has 82.65% of the votes, which represents 135,234 votes against Joyce Robinson-Paul, who had 15,541 votes, and Sohaer Syed with 12,846 votes.
Here’s what you need to know about the newly elected Nigerian-US Congressman:
- Oye Owolewa from Kwara, holds a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in pharmacy from the Northeastern University, Boston.
- His parents, born and raised in Nigeria, raised him with 2 guiding principles, a value in community service and an early exposure to science. This exposure became a love for science, culminating in him achieving a Doctorate of Pharmacy.
- In 2018, Oye was elected commissioner of his neighborhood in Southeast DC. In this position, he served as the medium between the community and the local government.
- Oye worked to bring resources to the underserved by advising DC lawmakers based on continued community feedback.
- Some of Oye’s most notable achievements were increasing science enrichment programs in Southeast elementary schools, adding traffic safety measures and helping bring a Senior Day Center to the neighborhood.
- As commissioner, Oye learned the value of being an advocate and community resource.
- Oye has dedicated his energy to educate and advocate for DC statehood and equality.
- He participated in the historic March 2019 lobby day, resulting in a majority of the House of Representatives supporting DC Statehood for the first time in American history.
- Soon after, Oye took his efforts to Annapolis where he joined the effort to end big money’s impact on our lawmaking. DC’s as close as it’s ever been to being a state and Oye is here to finish the fight.
