Nigerian-born Chinyelu Onwurah has won the first seat to be declared for Labour in the general election held in the United Kingdom on December 12.
The Independent says Onwurah took Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central with 21,568 votes while her Conservatives rival got 9,290.
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It also said Onwurah’s 12,278 margin of victory was down from 14,937 two years ago.
The Nigerian’s victory was swiftly followed by wins for Labour’s Bridget Phillipson in Houghton and Sunderland South.
Born April 12, 1965, her mother hails from Newcastle while her Nigerian father worked as a dentist while he studied at Newcastle University Medical School.
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Onwurah, on her official website, says her mother “grew up in poverty.”
She adds: “I was still a baby when my father took us to live in Awka, Nigeria. But two years later, the Biafran Civil War broke out, bringing famine with it and, as described vividly in an Evening Chronicle article in 1968, my mother, my brother and sister and I returned as refugees to Newcastle, whilst my father stayed on in the Biafran army.”
