SCOTLAND: Nigerian Aibinu Adebayo goes for parliamentary seat

SCOTLAND-based Nigerian pharmacologist, Adebayo Aibinu is on the path of becoming the first black and African member of the Scottish parliament. 

He is currently standing for the Glasgow Anniesland constituency in the May 6 Scottish parliamentary elections. 

Currently ranking 3rd on the Glasgow regional rankings for the Conservative party, his campaign is recorded to be generating a lot of interest among the diverse races in his constituency. 

The election is to be held under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament will be elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999.

Holder of a doctorate degree in molecular neuropharmacology, Ade isn’t stranger to public office in Scotland.   

In 2017, he was elected as the local councillor for Victoria Park Ward 12 in Glasgow and currently serves as the deputy leader of the conservative group at Glasgow City Council. 

Since the election, he has sat on the Health and Social Care Partnership Integration Joint Board and the Operational Performance and Delivery Scrutiny Committee of the council. 

In 2019, he was the Westminster parliamentary candidate for the Conservative party in Glasgow NorthWest.

Dr Aibinu currently works as a life science lecturer at a further education institution. Previously, he sat on the Young Pharmacologists Advisory Group of the British Pharmacological Society and Membership and Awards Committee in London, until 2019. 

On his past election successes, major Scottish mediums celebrated him as the ‘first black person’ to be elected into the Glasgow City Council in 2017. 

”Ade Aibinu has taken the Scottish Conservative and Unionist seat for Ward 12 Victoria Park along with the SNP’s Feargal Dalton and Labour’s Maggie McTernan,” said a report in the Glasgow Evening Times of May 5, 2017 under the title ,

The report detailed how he became an instant sensation with the Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson among the first to extend her congratulations to the then “youngman”. He was just 28 then.

“Fantastic win Ade – what a cracking campaign!,” she said on Twitter.

According to the report, the 28-year-old politician described being “excited” at the result and said he was looking forward to the snap general election on June 8.

“Just last month, the Evening Times reported how Aibinu was praised for his “personable, friendly manner” on the doorstep while out campaigning.

“He decided to join the Conservatives in 2015, and told the media, “I have always felt Conservative in my general outlook.”

Aibinu after his win, was quoted as saying, “The Conservatives are the party of low tax but of growing the tax base and not allowing people to be in a situation where they rely on benefits.”

Aibinu moved to Glasgow from England in 2008 and was then doing a research degree at Glasgow Caledonian University.

“He said his family has been supportive but didn’t really understand what he was doing and also described how others were surprised when they saw him campaigning.

“He added: “They see a young candidate from a different background and it takes them aback,” according to the media report.