SAN FRANCISCO, November 05, (THEWILL) – Three Nigerians-Americans have won elections into legislative seats in Tuesday’s U.S. general elections.
One of the three, Ms Esther Agbaje was elected into the Minnesota House of Representatives. She will represent District 59B in the 134-member House on the platform of the Democratic-Farmer–Labor Party (DFL).
Esther, 35, won by a landslide, polling 17,396 votes or 74.7%t of the total ballots cast. Her closest rival, Alan Shilepsky of the Republican Party, secured 4,128 votes, representing 17.7% of the total.
The daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Agbaje was born in St. Paul, the state capital of Minnesota. Her father, Rev. John, an Episcopal Church priest, met her mother, Bunmi, a librarian, at the University of Minnesota where they were studying.
Esther graduated from George Washington University, Washington, D.C., with a degree in political science. She holds a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Pennsylvania, and also a law degree from Harvard University.
Another Nigerian-American Democrat, Oye Owolewa has been elected as a shadow member of the House of Representatives from the District of Columbia.
He polled 164,026 votes to defeat incumbent Joyce Robinson-Paul, who scored 18,600 votes, and Sohaer Syed with 15,372 votes.
Owolewa, who has roots in Kwara and Oyo states, holds a PhD in Pharmacy from Northeastern University, Boston. In 2018, he was elected commissioner of his neighbourhood in SouthEast DC.
Meanwhile, Nnamdi Chukwuocha has also won re-election as a member of Delaware House of Representatives from District 1. The Democrat was returned unopposed with 7,640.
With a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in social work from Delaware State University, Chukwuocha has several years of experience in local politics in the state.
He once served on the Wilmington City Council as President Pro Tempore and Chair of the Education, Youth and Families Committee.
In 2019, he was a member of the Corrections Committee, the Education Committee, the Health & Human Development Committee, the Veterans Affairs Committee as a US Army veteran and Vice-Chair of the Transportation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee.
