Eight Nigerian Americans won legislative seats in the November 8, 2022, State legislative elections in the United States.
In this article, TheNigerian News profiles the new Nigerian-American legislators.
Segun Adeyina
Segun Adeyina, a Nigerian-born IT consultant and educator, won the election for Georgia State House of Representatives District 110 on the platform of the Democratic Party.
Adeyina is the first Nigerian-American to run for Gwinnett County Board of Education in Atlanta, Georgia.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Akron and a Master of Science in Management Information Systems from Lawrence Technological University.
He is an Adjunct Professor with the University of Phoenix and Wayne County Community College District where he taught Networking, Security, Project Management, Mathematics, and Computer courses.
Adeyina is married with three children.
Gabe Okoye
Gabe Okoye, a former Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Organization in the Americas, won the election for Georgia State House of Representatives District 102 on the platform of the Democratic Party.
Okoye, a civil engineer formerly served as Chairman of the Gwinnett County Democratic Party. He migrated from Nigeria to Lawrenceville city, United States in 1992.
He is married to Agnes Okoye, and their marriage is blessed with children.
Solomon Adesanya
Solomon Adesanya, a Nigerian-American from Cobb County, Marietta, won the election for Georgia State House of Representatives District 43 on the platform of the Democratic Party.
He is an alumnus of Georgia State University Masters of Public Policy program.
He is an entrepreneur; he owns a restaurant in Cobb County. Adesanya is part of the Cobb County Democratic Committee At-Large Post Seat term 2018, where he votes on the party by-laws.
He is married to Ashleigh, and they are blessed with two daughters; Grace and Joi.
Tish Naghise
Tish Naghise, a Nigerian-American from Fayetteville won the election for Georgia State House of Representatives District 68 on the platform of the Democratic Party.
She has lived in the district since 2002.
Naghise has worked on many campaigns most notably Obama in 2008, 2012, Hilary in 2016, Ossoff in 2017, and Abrams in 2018.
She obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Clayton State University. She will receive her Master’s in December from Clayton State University majoring in Strategic Leadership and Development.
Naghise is the owner of T & C Transportation Enterprises.
Phil Olaleye
Phil Olaleye, a Nigerian-American from Summerhill won the election for Georgia State House of Representatives District 59 on the platform of the Democratic Party.
Olaleye is the Executive Director of Next Generation Men & Women, an education non-profit closing the opportunity gap for under-resourced high school students in Atlanta.
He is the President of Summerhill’s neighbourhood organization. He also formerly served as the Director of Performance Management at WorkSource Atlanta and as a U.S. Peace Corps Children, Youth, and Family Volunteer in the Philippines.
Olaleye graduated from Duke University in 2007 and received a masters in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2014.
He is married to Sabrina Gómez and they are blessed with a son.
Carol Kazeem
Carol Kazeem, a Nigerian-American activist and child advocate from Chester city won the election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 159 on the platform of the Democratic Party.
Kazeem, 30, works in health care as a trauma-informed specialist and gun violence interrupter.
She is married and blessed with three beautiful children.
Oye Owolewa
Oye Owolewa, a Nigerian-American pharmacist and politician was elected as the shadow representative of the United States House of Representatives from the District of Columbia in November 2020, on the platform of the Democratic Party.
He was re-elected on November 8, 2022.
Born in 1989 in Boston, Massachusetts, Owolewa holds a doctorate in pharmacy from Northeastern University.
His career experience includes working as a pharmacy manager with Safeway and a pharmacist with Rite Aid.
Esther Agbaje
Esther Agbaje, a Nigerian-American attorney from Saint Paul won re-election to the Minnesota House of Representatives District 59B on the platform of the Democratic Party.
Agbaje, 37, is a former member of the Labour Party. She was first elected in 2020 and re-elected on November 8, 2022.
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from George Washington University, and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Agbaje is also a Harvard alumnus.
