{"id":11361,"date":"2019-05-28T02:11:15","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T02:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/ng\/?p=5520"},"modified":"2019-05-28T02:11:15","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T02:11:15","slug":"imo-state-boy-kelechi-madukaycee-becomes-first-nigerian-elected-lawmaker-in-canada-doubles-as-minister-of-municipal-affairs-of-the-province-of-alberta-45-year-old-will-be-parliamentarian-repres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/imo-state-boy-kelechi-madukaycee-becomes-first-nigerian-elected-lawmaker-in-canada-doubles-as-minister-of-municipal-affairs-of-the-province-of-alberta-45-year-old-will-be-parliamentarian-repres\/","title":{"rendered":"IMO State BOY, KELECHI MADU(Kaycee) becomes First Nigerian elected Lawmaker in Canada …doubles as Minister of Municipal Affairs of the Province of Alberta *45 year old will be parliamentarian representing Edmonton South-West constituency *Ministry is the third largest in Alberta with over $3.7 billion portfolio *UNILAG law graduate under aegis of United Conservative Party in Edmonton won in the provincial election garnering 7,742 votes to beat his competitors: John Archer of the New Democrat Party who polled 6,974 BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU\/AMERICAN FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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IMO\nState BOY, KELECHI MADU(Kaycee) becomes First Nigerian elected\nLawmaker in Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

…doubles as\nMinister of Municipal Affairs of the Province of Alberta<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*45 year old\nwill be parliamentarian representing Edmonton\nSouth-West constituency<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Ministry\nis the third largest in Alberta with over $3.7 billion portfolio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*UNILAG law\ngraduate under aegis of United\nConservative Party in Edmonton won in the provincial election\ngarnering 7,742 votes to beat his competitors: John Archer of the New\nDemocrat Party who polled 6,974<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY GEORGE\nELIJAH OTUMU\/AMERICAN FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HE’S MAKING\nNIGERIA PROUD IN CANADA. He is a Nigerian, Naturalized Canadian.\nKELECHI MADU famously known as Kaycee is a an inspiring news story of\nsuccess against all odds. Hardworking, ever-smiling and bubbly Kaycee\nstrongly believe in the greatness of Nigeria’s resilient spirit. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 45 year\nold Nigerian born Canadian politician had been elected as a\nParliamentarian to represent the good people of Alberta in <\/strong>Edmonton\nSouth-West constituency, Canada. <\/strong>On\nApril 30, an Igbo and a University of Lagos law graduate, took oath\nof office as Minister of Municipal Affairs in Alberta, Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelechi\nis one of the 22 new cabinet members. Alberta Premier, Jason Kenney,\nswore him in recently at the Government House in Edmonton. But that\nis only half of the story. The other half is that he was also elected\nthis year to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the\nelectoral district of Edmonton South-West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\nMay 21, he was sworn in as a lawmaker. This distinguished Nigerian\nwill be serving in dual capacity as the Minister of Municipal Affairs\nof the Province of Alberta and at the same time a member of\nparliament representing his Edmonton South-West constituency. The\nministry is the third largest in Alberta with over $3.7 billion\nportfolio and it is to be superintended by an immigrant that has\nsojourned there for barely 14 years. A lone United Conservative\nParty, UCP, lawmaker in Edmonton. Kaycee won in one of the closest\nraces in the provincial election, garnering 7,742 votes to beat his\ncompetitors: John Archer of the New Democrat Party, NDP, who polled\n6,974 votes; Mo Elsalhy of the AP with 2,111 votes; Marilyn Burns of\nthe AAP who polled 178 and Rigel Vincent of the GPA with 108 when 62\nof 64 polls reported. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nsignificance of his victory is underscored by the fact that Edmonton\nremains solidly orange, an opposition column. When Kaycee won the UCP\nnomination in December 2018 defeating fellow party members Sohail\nQuadri and Kevin Greco, the then party leader, Jason Kenney, who also\ntook oath of office as Alberta Premier, issued a statement extolling\nthe candidate. \u201cToday, more than 1000 United Conservative members\nin Edmonton-South West cast ballots for their preferred candidate for\nthe next election from amongst three great contestants. I would like\nto congratulate Kaycee Madu on winning this highly competitive race.\nKaycee is a committed conservative, a lawyer, and a father of three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior\nto coming to Canada with his wife, Emem, Kaycee graduated from the\nlaw school and was subsequently called to the Bar in Nigeria. He has\nsince established a law firm in Edmonton where he continues to\npractice. \u201cKaycee enjoys giving back to the community and\nvolunteers his legal skills with the Law Society of Alberta Lawyer\nReferral Program and the Edmonton Community Legal Centre, ECLC. He is\na member of the Igbo Cultural Association of Edmonton and supports\nhis community league activities and his church. Kaycee\u2019s legal\nexpertise and his unique understanding of the challenges faced by\nnewcomers to Canada make him a valuable member of the United\nConservative team as we work to present Albertans with a common-sense\nalternative to the NDP. I am pleased to welcome Kaycee as the United\nConservative candidate in Edmonton-South West.\u201d His law firm\u2019s\nwebsite says as much, stating that he is a lawyer with a background\nin civil litigation and employment law who has worked for the\nprovincial government under the Progressive Conservatives, helping\nreview and develop laws and policies around the minimum wage.\nAlberta\u2019s temporary foreign worker programme, employment standards\nfor firefighters, and youth employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nare the values that matter. In Canada, as exemplified in Kaycee\u2019s\n(E1) meteoric rise in the Alberta political circuit, an individual\u2019s\ncharacter and the qualities he brings to the leadership table matter\nin the recruitment process. But not in Nigeria. After constituting\nthe 23-member executive council,Kenney, Alberta\u2019s 18th premier, who\nalso took over the role of minister of intergovernmental affairs,\nsaid the main focus for his team over the next four years would be\neconomic growth, job creation, getting pipelines built and standing\nup for Alberta. And the job, he declared, started there and then. \u201cI\npromised Albertans we wouldn\u2019t waste a day, or an hour, getting to\nwork to renew the Alberta advantage. That begins this afternoon.\u201d\nAnd to get the job done, what mattered most to the Premier is the\ndiversity of his cabinet, which members speak 13 languages, have a\nvariety of personal and professional backgrounds and an average age\nhovering around 40. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaycee\nmigrated to Canada in 2005 with his wife who enrolled in postgraduate\nstudies at the University of Alberta. Today, he is the toast of\nCanada\u2019s political class. Few Canadians are asking as to whether\nthe man who hails from Umuokirika community in Ahiazu-Mbaise local\ngovernment area, Imo State, would have achieved such a great feat\noutside his home state in his country of birth, Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelechi\nwas determined very early in life to be a success. His perseverance\nis unrivaled.\u201d Today, that doggedness has made his dream a reality.\nHe is the first Nigerian to be elected Member of Parliament in\nAlberta, Canada. In his remark, Kaycee said: \u201cThe question that\nconcentrated my mind as I savoured the good news is, what if? What if\nhe had contested this election in Lagos State in the same 2019?\nFourteen years after migrating to Canada,\u201d? The 45-year- old\nNigerian lawyer of very humble background, with neither a political\ngodfather nor deep pocket has just become a major political force\nwhile his kith and kin back home in Nigeria are visited with violence\nin some parts of the country for daring to vote for candidates of\ntheir choice in a general election. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\ndaring to exercise their franchise, they have been told that they are\nillegal immigrants who should be seen but not heard in their own\ncountry. For daring to vote according to their conscience, they have\nbeen branded unconscionable land grabbers. Even after the elections\nhave been won and lost, their businesses are systematically being\ntargeted by those who claim they own the land. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nhe was announced winner, Kelechi tweeted: \u201cI am humbled and\nhonoured to be standing before you, no longer as a candidate, but as\nthe MLA-elect for #yegsw \u2026 this is my home and Alberta\u2019s capital\ncity, and it deserves strong representation in the legislature.\u201d\nThat is what matters. It is a call to service. 2019 elections not\ndeclaration of war.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IMO State BOY, KELECHI MADU(Kaycee) becomes First Nigerian elected Lawmaker in Canada …doubles as Minister of Municipal Affairs of the Province of Alberta *45 year old will be parliamentarian representing Edmonton South-West constituency *Ministry is the third largest in Alberta with over $3.7 billion portfolio *UNILAG law graduate under aegis of United Conservative Party in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[129,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-11361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-nigeria-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}