A Nigerian-American, Oye Owolewa, 31 years old has been elected to the United States Congress. It was gathered that Owolewa, a Ph.D. holder in Pharmacy from the Northeastern University, Boston, and politician is the first Nigerian-American congressman in the country's history. According to election results on the website of the District of Columbia Board of elections on Wednesday morning, Owolewa garnered 81.59% of the votes, which represents 164,026 votes against Joyce Robinson-Paul, who scored 18,600 votes, and Sohaer Syed with 15,372 votes. Owolewa, whose father is from Kwara state and mother is from Oyo, contested on the platform of the Democratic Party as a 'shadow' (non-voting) House of Representative member out of the District of Columbia (DC).
Congressman elections held Tuesday with all the 435 seats in the US House of Representatives, and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate up for grabs.
Owolewa celebrated his victory on both Instagram and Facebook where he shared the news Joyously. He wrote on Facebook "Good morning, looks like we did it! I want to thank everyone, from family and close friends to DC residents. Because of your contribution and sacrifices, I stand before you as America's first Nigerian-American congressman.
"In this role, I'm going to fight for DC statehood and bring our values to the law-making process. While today is a day for some celebration, the hard work also follows. Again, thanks so much for everything. I wouldn't be here without you all."
Owolewa's campaign website reads “In 2018, he was elected commissioner of his neighbourhood in SouthEast DC. Lastly, Oye has been an advocate for DC statehood, leading to his run to be your next representative.
“He launched TaxFreeDC as a movement to combat DC’s taxation without representation. TaxFreeDC declares that until DC statehood is achieved, DC’s tax revenue shall no longer go to the federal government. Oye believes our money belongs here for DC priorities instead of going to a government that fails to recognize us.”
