By Abiola Olawale
Following the conclusion of the General election of the United Kingdom, about eight candidates of Nigerian descent emerged victorious at the polls.
The New Diplomat reports that 30 individuals of Nigerian descent contested in the just-concluded general election but only about eight were elected to represent their various constituencies, including Chi Onwurah, one of the long-serving British-Nigerian Member of Parliament
The winning party of the 2024 UK General Election had eight British-Nigerian candidates but only four won their election.
Also, the Conservatives had four Nigerians with two of them getting re-elected; Kemi Badenoch and Helen Grant.
Below is a short profile of the British-Nigerians who won their elections:
Chi Onwurah
She is a British MP born to a Nigerian father who has been re-elected as Labour MP for Newcastle Central and West. She secured 11,060 votes out of 18,875 to coast home to victory.
She has previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newcastle upon Tyne Central from 2010 to 2024, when the Constituency was abolished.
Kemi Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch joined the Conservative Party in 2005 and since then has been active in Conservative politics. Despite the underwhelming performance of her party, she was declared winner of the North West Essex legislative election on Friday after polling 19,360 votes to defeat her main challenger, Labour’s Issy Waiter, who garnered 16,750 votes.
Helen Grant
Helen Grant continued as a Conservative representative for the Maidstone and Malling constituency as she held onto her seat by winning 14,146 votes. She was first elected in 2010 and has served in the parliament since then.
Florence Dauta Eshalomi
Florence Eshalomi has been active in politics since 2019 when she contested and won a parliament seat under the Labour Party. In the 2024 elections, she was reelected. She got a total of 21,528 votes. She was first elected into the parliament in 2019.
Kate Osamor
Kate is a British Labour politician who has been a Member of Parliament for Edmonton and Winchmore Hill since 2015. The 55-year-old was reelected into the UK parliament after she secured a total of 20,520.
Taiwo Owatemi
Born in 1992, she defended her parliamentary seat in Coventry North West under the Labour Party and won with 19,696 votes.
Bayo Alaba
Bayo Alaba won the Southend East and Rochford for Labour by a comfortable margin.The former Parachute Regiment member got 15,395 votes against Conservative candidate Gavin Haran’s 11,368 votes.
Josh Babarinde
Babarinde of Liberal Democrats was declared the new member of parliament for Eastbourne after receiving 23,742 votes, a majority of 12,204.
