In one of the most keenly contested
general elections in British history, four Nigerians won seats to the
revered parliament, making it the first time such feat would be recorded
Against all odds, David Cameron has won his re-election bid in one of the fiercest polls in British history.
Cameron, Prime Minister of Britain, led
the Conservatives to almost a landslide victory against the Labour Party
– a development that forced arch-rival – Ed Miliband to step down as
head of the opposition.
With the victory, Cameron returns to the
iconic Number 10 Downing Street, the official residence of British
Prime Ministers to continue with his work of massive reforms and making
Britain greater.
But it is not only Cameron that has been
left smiling following the announcement of winners – four politicians
of Nigerian descent also tasted victory during the general elections in
the Queen’s land.
Before Thursday’s keenly contested polls
in Britain, not many within and outside it were familiar with Chuka
Umunna, Helen Grant, Chi Onwurah and Kate Osamor. But by mid-day Friday,
the four have almost become celebrities of sort after an elaborate
media focus on them.
The four Nigerians won seats into the
British parliament, making it the first time such would be happening in
the highly conservative United Kingdom. While Umunna, a Labour Party
politician who has served Streatham as Member of Parliament since 2010
and has enjoyed a meteoric political rise in recent years is a
relatively known face outside Britain, the profile of the other three
was largely unknown until Friday, a day after the keenly contested
elections, even though Grant and Onwurah had been Members of Parliament
over the last five years.
Umunna
Born on October 17, 1978 to a Nigerian
father – Bennett and British mother – Patricia, Umunna began his
education at Hitherfield Primary School in Streatham, South London, and
the Christ Church Primary School in Brixton Hill. He later moved to St.
Dunstan’s College, Catford, Southeast London where he played the cello
and became a respected prefect in the school.
Pursuing higher education, the eloquent
Umunna bagged an upper second class in English and French Law from the
University of Manchester before going to study for one term at the
University of Burgundy in Dijon, France. He would later pick up an MA at
the Nottingham Law School.
Umunna did not just get to the top all
of a sudden – he slowly but vigorously climbed his way to the
centerpiece of British politics. In 2002, after graduating from the
university, the 37-year-old began working as a solicitor for Herbert
Smith, a law firm based in the heart of London. Four years later he
joined Rochman Landau, specialising in Employment Law.
However, he soon began writing and
providing commentary on the Labour Party, as well as broader social and
economic issues, usually in his capacity as a member of the Management
Committee of the Labour-aligned Compass pressure group. He also wrote
articles for the Financial Times, Tribune, The Voice, The Guardian and the New Statesman,
and began to appear on various radio and television programmes as a
commentator. Umunna would later go on to establish and edited an online
political magazine, The Multicultural Politic.
In early April 2013, his law firm was
linked to favourable updates made on his Wikipedia page in 2007, which
included a reference to him being tipped as the “British Barack Obama”.
Earlier in June 2010, he was elected a member of the Treasury Select
Committee while in October of that year, he was appointed to serve as a
Parliamentary Private Secretary and, in May 2011 rose to the position of
Shadow Minister for Small Business and Enterprise until his promotion
to the Shadow Cabinet.
Grant
Grant, born on September 28, 1961, is a
Conservative Party politician and solicitor who was first elected into
the British parliament in 2010. By that feat, she became the first black
woman to be selected to defend a Tory seat and the Conservatives’ first
female black parliamentarian. She has served as Minister for Sport,
Tourism and Equalities.
In September 2012, Grant received her
first government appointment when she earned the dual roles of
Under-Secretary of State for Justice and Under-Secretary for Women and
Equalities. She was born in Willesden, North London to an English mother
and Nigerian father but grew up with her mother’s family after her
parents separated. She lived with her mother, grandmother and
great-grandmother.
Onwurah
Onwurah, born on April 12, 1965, is a
Labour Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as
the Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne Central. Onwurah is
Newcastle’s first black MP.
During the depression of the 1930s, her
maternal grandfather was a sheet metal worker in Tyneside shipyards. Her
mother grew up in poverty in Garth Heads on Newcastle’s quayside. Her
father, from Nigeria, was working as a dentist while he studied at
Newcastle Medical School when they met and married in the 1950s.
After Chi’s arrival in 1965, her family
moved to Anambra State when she was still a baby, only two years before
the Nigerian Civil War. The situation forced her mother to take the
children back to England while her father stayed back to fight for the
Biafran army. She had been a strong voice in the parliament and her
victory this time around only goes to confirm her rising reputation in
British politics.
Osamor
Osamor, a National Health Service
manager, would be representing Edmonton constituency in London on the
platform of the Labour Party. A respected trade union activist and
women’s charity trustee, she made funding the NHS and standing up to
government cuts the main theme of her campaign.
Emerging one of the Labour Party’s
shining lights during a generally poor election outing, Osamor was
declared winner in the North London seat with 25,388 votes. Her closest
rival, Gonul Daniels of the Conservative Party ended up with 9,969
votes, making it an overwhelming victory for her.
The triumph of the four parliamentarians
is seen as a major boost to Nigeria’s international image especially at
a time when leadership has also changed hands at the centre in the
oil-rich country. The victory is also viewed as cheering news for
Nigerians resident in the United Kingdom who are often the subject of
racism and segregation in the highly conservative region.
