Italy Has Elected Nigerian Born Immigrant As First Black Member Of The Upper House Of Parliament
Italy has elected its first black Senator, Nigeria born Toni Iwobi who has been in Matteo Salvini’s party for more than 20 years. Iwobi, is an IT entrepreneur and a Bergamo resident. He became a town Councillor for the League at Spirano in 1995.
The 62-year-old announced “with great emotion” on his Facebook page that he had been elected to the senate.
“I am very thrilled to tell you that I have been elected senator… A new adventure is about to begin,” Iwobi wrote after Sunday’s election as a candidate for the League. It has become the major force in the center-right coalition.
Immigration Perspective
Born in Gusau in northern Nigeria, Toni Iwobi came to Italy forty years ago as a student. However, he married an Italian woman before starting an IT company. He became a municipal councilor for the League in Spirano in the 1990s and has been the League party’s spokesman on migration since 2014.
Iwobi used the slogan #StopInvasione (“Stop Invasion”) during his campaign and claims the League would help people “in their own home” rather than in Italy.
“Discrimination begins when there are no rules and the state… lets anyone in. Illegality leads directly to violence and a racist response,” Iwobi said in January. “The League supports healthy and controlled immigration which can act as a bulwark against racism.”
Toni Iwobi has been encouraged by Salvini, who said he thought the new senator would “do more for legal immigrants in one month than Kyenge did in her entire life,” in reference to the former PD integration minister.
