Biafrans and Americans will today vote for two Biafrans, Mr Charles Ejike Onyejiaka and Mr George Njoku Chidi, who are among the candidates in today’s U.S. general elections, both from Imo State.
charles-onyejiakaMr. Charles Ejike Onyejiaka, a democrat, is the incumbent in a two-way race for Ward 3 Councilman seat in Franklin. He was one of three men presented to Franklin Town Council as fill-in candidates for the unexpired term of Phil Kramer, former Ward 3 Councilman, who became Mayor of Franklin last January.
Mr. Onyejiaka beat Alex Kharazi and Azim Uddin, also democrats and immigrants, to succeed Kramer. Today, he is contesting against Beverly Briggs-Lawson, a Republican, in the general election.
Mr. Onyejiaka is one of two American of Biafran descent whose names are on ballots in grassroots elections at township and county levels this year. The others is George Chidi. Both are product of currents of civic engagement by hundreds of immigrants and first generation Americans who maintain their ties to Biafra even as they live relatively comfortable lives in the United States.
chidi George Chidi is also a veteran and, the son of George Njoku Chidi, a native of Umuoye in Imo State. The younger George is running for a seat on the Board of Commissioners in DeKalb County, Georgia. His story reads almost like that of Barack Obama. His dad arrived Massachusetts in 1970 on a student visa, met his mum who is a Caucasian of Polish descent.
They got married and, unlike Obama’s dad, the older George stayed in the United States. George junior was an active duty soldier in the 25th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army for five years and, he has been a journalist and civic leader for twenty years.
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