After a history-making victory, Nigerian immigrant Yemi Mobolade was sworn in on June 6 as mayor of Colorado Springs, the second-largest city in the western U.S. state of Colorado.<\/p>\n
Colorado Governor Jered Polis said he is inspired by Mobolade\u2019s story.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody who has dedicated his life to making Colorado Springs and America a better place, whose story we can all identify with, who came here, who started businesses,\u201d Polis said at the inauguration ceremony.<\/p>\n
Mobolade moved to the U.S. 27 years ago as a student and became a U.S. citizen in 2017. He started a family, opened two restaurants and a church, and then won election in this traditionally conservative city as its first elected Black leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wake up every morning and I think it\u2019s a dream, and then I realize, no, this really happened,\u201d Mobolade said.<\/p>\n
But what earned him the trust of many residents, some said, is his stint as the small business development manager for Colorado Springs from 2019 to 2022.<\/p>\n
Some residents told VOA that Mobolade\u2019s electoral victory sends a message that their state is welcoming to people from all walks of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cColorado Springs is lavishly hospitable,\u201d Michael Lipede told VOA. \u201cIf the natives of Colorado have not received us with an open heart, there is no way we will accomplish all we have accomplished,\u201d said Lipede, a lead pastor at Redeemed Christian Church of God Living Faith Sanctuary in Colorado Springs.<\/p>\n
In a city of nearly 500,000 people that is more than 75% White, residents found hope in the fact that so many voters were willing to support someone from a different background.<\/p>\n
\u201cColoradans … don\u2019t believe in ethnicity, they believe in competence and capacity and capability, and they found out that Mr. Yemi has it all.\u201d Olawale Akinremi, a Colorado Springs resident told VOA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel hopeful about today. I love our new mayor, Yemi Mobolade. He is a man of strength, faith, character, and courage. And we are so fortunate to have him leading our city,\u201d Cindy Aubrey, Colorado Springs resident said.<\/p>\n
Another resident, Nkechi Onyejekwe said \u201cI think it is something that is very amazing to celebrate and I think it is something very timely as well,\u201d she told VOA, adding that \u201cColorado Springs has a very diverse population and I think that their legislative bodies should also reflect that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ami Bajah-Onyejekwe, a Pueblo Colorado resident said it is important for people to see someone they can look up to in positions of leadership. \u201cJust by seeing someone who looks like you, who has similar background to yours and see where that person has reached, and the goals they have achieved,\u201d she said, \u201cgives hope and says, \u2018I can do it as well.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Mobolade has pledged to be a leader for all of Colorado City\u2019s increasingly diverse population.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think today matters for a lot of young black kids because it tells them that the sky\u2019s the limit, that they too can step into the arena and lead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This story originated in VOA\u2019s Hausa Service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After a history-making victory, Nigerian immigrant Yemi Mobolade was sworn in on June 6 as mayor of Colorado Springs, the second-largest city in the western U.S. state of Colorado. Colorado Governor Jered Polis said he is inspired by Mobolade\u2019s story. \u201cSomebody who has dedicated his life to making Colorado Springs and America a better place, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":495,"featured_media":10012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/495"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}