Kemi Adegoke and Chuka Umunna: British Parliamentary Candidates

Two British Nigerians are contesting in the British general elections for May 6, 2010. Although Kemi Adegoke and Chuka Umunna are contesting on different political parties and represent different constituencies, they both share some things together. They are British Nigerians, Black British politicians and lawyers. They represent a young generation of brilliant and talented British citizens with African heritage.

Kemi Adegoke

Kemi Adegoke was born in Wimbledon in 1980 by Nigerian Parents. She moved back to United Kingdom in 1996 after schooling in Nigeria.

In 2003, Kemi obtained an Engineering Degree from the University of Sussex. She completed a degree in Law at the University of London (Birkbeck College) in 2009.  She is also a Chartered Member of the British Computer Society and currently works as a systems analyst at the RBS group. 

Kemi Adegoke will be representing the Conservative party as the party’s parliamentary candidate. Kemi Adegoke would be contesting against Tessa Jowell in the Dulwich and West Norwood constituency at the next election.

Kemi is active in the local community as a school governor at St. Thomas the Apostle College in Peckham and at Jubilee Primary school in Tulse Hill.   She takes a keen interest in housing, education and youth issues in South London and apart from her activities as a school governor, is also a board member of Charlton Triangle Housing Association.   In her spare time she also teaches chess to pupils at the Bishop Challoner School For Girls in Tower Hamlets.

In 2006 and 2007, Kemi worked on the Globalisation and Global Poverty Policy group set up by David Cameron.  She was the project leader covering corruption and governance.

In a recent interview with Checkout magazine, Kemi said “she got her political inspiration from the former British First Female Prime Minister and Conservative leader, Margaret Thatcher.” Margaret Thatcher was a huge political figure who will go down in the world’s political history as the most pragmatic female politician ever produced by British politics.

To know more about Kemi Adegoke and her political manifesto, click here to visit her website.

Chuka Umunna

Chuka Umunna was born in October, 1978. He is a British Nigerian. He is a political activist and commentator, and an employment lawyer. In March 2008, he was chosen by local Labour Party members as the party's prospective parliamentary candidate for the Streatham constituency.

Umunna is the grandson of High Court Judge Helenus Milmo and nephew of leading libel lawyer Patrick Milmo

Chuka Umunna is a brilliant and articulate employment lawyer who continues to enjoy publicity in the British media, as he is often mentioned as a likely replica of an Obama political figure in the UK. The vibrant youthful politician, Chuka, has recently expressed his deep concern alongside Britain’s Foreign Minister, David Milliband on the political situation in Nigeria, especially on issues around the sickness of Nigeria’s President, Umaru Yar’adua, which is shrouded in secrecy. Chuka has reeled out his alluring manifestoes to the electorate in Streatham and its constituency areas, which he has emphasized to be his priorities if elected into the parliament.

He graduated with a 2:1 degree in English and French law from the University of Manchester, he started his legal career as a solicitor at the international law firm, Herbert Smith, in the City of London where Umunna mostly acted for large employers. In 2006, he moved to the central London law firm, Rochman Landau, where he is a representative for employee rights. As an employment lawyer, Umunna often speaks and writes on employment issues.

I wish both of them the best in their political career.