The first Nigerian-American to be elected to the United States Congress emerged early on Wednesday morning with Kwara State born, Oye Owolewa being elected as a Democrat to represent Washington D.C.
Though he will be representing the United States capital in the House of Representatives, Owolewa, however, will not have a vote in the US Congress as he will remain a nominal member.
The first generation Nigerian-American has a doctorate in pharmacy and was in 2018 elected commissioner of his neighborhood in Southeast DC.
He has been a champion for Washington D.C. to be given statehood. He is expected to use his new position to continue the struggle to give the District of Columbia as the American capital is known its crave for statehood.
A Nigerian-born Democrat, Oye Owolewa, will be elected as a shadow United States Representative out of the District of Columbia.
This was disclosed by ABC 7 News via its Twitter handle early on Wednesday morning.
It tweeted, “Democrat Oye Owolewa will be elected as a shadow U.S. Representative out of the District of Columbia.”
Based on the results, Oye had 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.
JUST IN: Democrat Oye Owolewa will be elected as a shadow U.S. Representative out of the District of Columbia.
ELECTION RESULTS: https://t.co/PAxfz7AJQl pic.twitter.com/4jP0NxB0Ux
— ABC 7 News – WJLA (@ABC7News) November 4, 2020
What you should know
Oye Owolewa, whose father is from Kwara State and mother is from Oyo, is aiming for a ‘shadow’ (non-voting) seat in the House of Representatives.
Owolewa, a PhD holder in Pharmacy from the Northeastern University, Boston, is seeking to represent the District of Columbia under the Democratic Party.
