Niko Omilana – a 23-year-old British YouTuber – is running to become London’s next mayor – with the election set for May 6. He officially announced his candidacy on April 2 and is considered to be the second most popular candidate amongst the 18-24 age group – who still favor the current Mayor of London Sadiq Khan as their top candidate.
im running for mayor of london #NikoForMayor pic.twitter.com/vD1WqsGBvI
— NDL Mayorside (@NikoOmilana) April 2, 2021
Omilana first announced his independent candidacy on April 2 via Twitter and has officially named his political party NDL (Niko Defense League). He also revealed that he has been interested in entering world politics since 2019:
“In 2019, I first teased the fact that I was going to run for London mayor in the background of a random YouTube video. In my merch in 2019, I put ‘NDL 2020’ as a nod to the election to come, and you guys have just been walking around promoting my campaign without even realizing it. Young people aren’t taken seriously in politics because the government don’t give us a voice, but we have a voice, my friends, so I’m trying to see what happens when we make as much noise as possible together”.
Omilana – known for his viral pranks – recently uploaded a video where he stood outside the BBC office holding a placard in an effort to get an interview with them. With the support of his 3.48 million subscribers – who tagged BBC on Twitter to get their attention – the broadcasting house eventually contacted Omilana for an interview: BBC then published it – with Ominala revealing he wants to “shush” Boris Johnson, the current UK prime minister who has been leading the country’s Covid-19 response.
To further promote his campaign #NIKOFORMAYOR, Omilana launched a five-star restaurant experience on a London bus that gave out 3 course meals for £5 – with proceeds going to charity.
Omilana has garnered support from fellow content creators such as KSI, Keemstar and MiniminterShorts. He is predicted to win 5% of the popular vote and to become the fifth most-voted candidate amongst the 20 other potential candidates. However, Omilana’s goals are much bigger than that: he wants to gain 100% of the popular vote and hopes to do so through his dedicated campaigns in London.
5% in the polls !! THEY HAVE TO TAKE US SERIOUS NOW LOL #NikoForMayor https://t.co/jQyvl6B0Ku
— NDL Mayorside (@NikoOmilana) April 21, 2021
With more than six million voters in London, Khan is projected to win for a second term in a row; however – with Omilana coming in hot from behind – Khan may not win by a super large margin after all.