The YouTuber Who Ran For London Mayor - And Nearly Won

When Niko Omilana walked out of his front door wearing a suit jacket, an unironed shirt, Nike trousers, cleats, and a pair of children’s sunglasses to announce he was running for mayor, many people laughed at the thought of a YouTuber daring to enter the political world. Omilana, known for his pranks, founded his own movement, which turned to a political party called the Niko Defense League (NDL). He had been lining up this bid for mayor for quite a time according to several fellow YouTubers. Niko stated that he was inspired to run because of the lack of representation of young people in politics. His manager, Grace O’Reilly, explained that there were other, more financial aspects that attracted him to run, such as brand deals that can earn YouTubers over five thousand dollars per video. Little did anyone know how much his “joke” campaign would change the political landscape for young people across the country. 

In a record-breaking year for the number of candidates running, Niko needed to set himself apart from the rest of his candidates, using his social media presence to do so. The biggest YouTubers from around the UK supported him through social media posts and videos, but he was still not getting any attention from the mainstream media. He decided to use the NDL’s power to get an interview with the BBC when he tweeted out, “your move @BBCNews,” with a video of him standing outside of their headquarters asking for an interview. After hours of waiting outside, Niko Omilana got his first chance to appear on mainstream television and revealed the first part of his manifesto, telling Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “shush.” He followed this up by turning a bus into a restaurant that promoted the 4Front Project, an organization that turns young people away from violence in London. Omilana then found a double of him to go onto an interview and explain their manifesto that included shutting down any McDonald’s with a broken McFlurry machine and turning them into low rent housing, freezing the river Thames so people can ice skate over it during the winter, and bringing the price of the Fredo back down to five pence. There were also serious points in the manifesto, such as bringing back free school meals, raising the minimum wage by 6.9%, and funding youth clubs and community centers. 

His stunts became more and more extreme as the voting polls began to open. His antics ranged from buying billboards around London to promote his manifesto, renting a boat on the Thames to promote said manifesto with a mariachi band, and riding around in a customized car with a megaphone telling people to vote for him. Surprisingly, it worked. Omilana’s chances with the bookies increased massively, and people were starting to see him as a legitimate candidate. Thanks to this, Omilana got an interview with ITV News, in which he made himself a trending meme by summing up his campaign in two words: For Vibes. This would go viral in the UK, allowing Omilana the chance to ask his voters for a final push to make him their number one candidate when they voted the following day. Now Omilana had to sit on his hands, hoping his campaigning had worked the trick as voters went to the polls. 

When the day of the results rolled around, Niko Omilana planned to break into the top five, however, as the early votes came in, Omilana was tied in fifth place with former actor and leader of the Reclaim Party, Laurence Fox. Then, on May 8th, 2021, the results were announced at City Hall in London, with Omilana 0.1% behind Fox when the latest results were released when ninety percent of the votes had been counted. As he waited, fellow politicians were giving Omilana the “vibes” he had been seeking, with many candidates telling him how they admired how he had stood up for young people in politics.The final votes released with Fox taking home 47,634 votes, and Omilana taking home an astounding 49,628 votes, enough for him to achieve his gargantuan task of achieving fifth in the London Mayoral election. 

Walking out of City Hall, Omilana was engulfed by a flock of NDL members celebrating his success. However, despite the support, Omilana quickly announced his retirement from politics two days later in an interview with ITV, and would later explain he did so because, in the end, he was not a politician. Even though he was never really a politician, there are still things politicians and parties can learn to represent young people more in politics. Instead of just tweeting out once every few months, or having an ad on tv as a way to reach out to young people, Omilana has used many different strange yet effective methods to get the younger generation onside. By representing young people more in politics, perhaps they will feel they don’t need to create violence in their communities to make their voices heard. 

By Luke Birch