A Nigerian, Toni Iwobi has been elected as senator in Italy.
Iwobi of Spirano in Lombardy, who belongs to the anti-immigration League, is the first black to be so elected in the history of Italy.
Iwobi, made the announcement on his Facebook page that he had been elected to the senate in Italy’s general election.
“After more than 25 years of fighting as part of the League’s big family, I’m about to start another great adventure,” Iwobi wrote, going on to thank leader Matteo Salvini and his other fellow party members.
“I’m ready, friends,” Iwobi said.
Iwobi, 62, was born in Nigeria and came to Italy on a student visa some 40 years ago, before going on to marry an Italian woman and start his own IT company there.
Campaigning with the slogan “Stop Invasion”, Iwobi said his concern isn’t just for Italians but for migrants, who the League claims it prefers to help “in their own home” rather than in Italy though its “Italians First” programme contains few proposals for international development aid.
“Racism means thinking yourself better than others, while in the movement I find many firm positions, but also a lot of respect,” he told the Corriere della Sera.
Before running for senator, he represented the League as a municipal councillor in Spirano back in the 1990s, and more recently headed Salvini’s national committee on immigration.