Below is the profile of Ernest Nnaama Ezeajughi, the first Black Mayor of the London Borough of Brent, and the new Chief of Staff to Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo, the executive governor of Anambra State.
Ernest Nnaama Ezeajughi
In 2019 Ernest Nnaama Ezeajughi was elected Mayor of the London Borough of Brent, a little city with a population of 331,000.
Ezeajughi was born in 1960 in Awgbu Town in southern Nigeria, Anambra State, the son of Sir Simeon Okeke Ezeajughi, an educator and prominent politician.
He attended Aguata High School, after which he matriculated at Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) at its main campus in the city of Awka.
While there, he was active in student government and studied medical microbiology before graduating in 1998.
Upon completing a mandatory one-year term with the Nigerian National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) he worked in his family’s business, Koval Linkworld Agencies Ltd.
Ezeajughi, however, left for Brent, England, in 2004 to reunite with his wife.
He acquired his Master of Science degree in environment health management at Kings College London and was later employed at several organizations, among them the Royal Mail, Public Health England and the Medicine and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA).
Still attracted to politics, he became a founding member of the British chapter of Nigeria’s All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) party and was its chairman from 2010 to 2012.
In May 2014, Ezeajughi, also a member of the Labour Party, won a seat on the Brent Council representing Stonebridge ward.
He was reelected in 2018 and months later, he was elected Deputy Mayor of Brent.
He has indicated that his affinity for politics is owed to the influence of both his Nigerian father and South Africa’s legendary Nelson Mandela.
Ezeajughi was later voted Mayor for a two-term by his fellow councilors on April 16, 2019, and was sworn into office on May 1, 2020.
The event was witnessed by several Nigerian dignitaries, including Ebele Obiano, the wife of the former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Willie Obiano.
Mr. Obiano handed over to Prof. Soludo on March 17, 2022.