Kemi Nelson, Tinubu’s Lagos West Senate Opponent in 1992, dies at 66
In 1992 when Bola Tinubu won his first elective position in Nigeria as a senator representing Lagos West on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, his opponent was Kemi Nelson of the National Republican Convention. She would go on to work with Tinubu when Nigeria returned to Democracy in 1999, becoming one of his most important allies.
Kemi Nelson passed away on Sunday, July 17, and her demise was announced by Gboyega Akosile, the Chief Press Secretary to Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Born on February 9, 1956, she attended Anglican Girls Grammar School, Ijebu-Ode, for her secondary education. She then proceeded to the school of Nursing at the University College Hospital Ibadan for her tertiary education, where she qualified as a Registered Nurse and Midwife.
While still schooling, she began working with the teaching hospital in Ibadan, as a nurse and midwife. After graduation, she left Ibadan to become the medical representative of Beecham Ltd, in Lagos. She would later open her first business centre on Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos.
In the 1980s, Nelson began her first foray into politics by joining the NRC during the military regime of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. In the same period, she met and got married to Adeyemi Nelson in 1987.
In 1992, she was the NRC’s candidate for the Lagos West Senatorial election where she was defeated by Tinubu. Following her loss in the election, her relationship with Tinubu began in what would culminate in a strong political bond.
In 1999, She joined Tinubu in the Alliance for Democracy, and when the latter won the governorship election, Nelson became one of his first appointees as she was made the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, where she served till 2003.
After the formation of the All Progressives Congress in 2013, she was made the Women Leader of the Lagos State Chapter of APC. She later served as the South West Women Leader of the party.
Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election in 2019, Nelson was appointed Executive Director, Operations, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund where she served until her demise. She was also the only female in the Lagos State Governor’s Advisory Council.
She leaves behind her husband and three children.
