Nigerian Councillor aims for Greater London Assembly in 2016

A Nigerian woman of substance has high hopes that members of the Labour Party will endorse her ambition of representing the party in the 2016 Greater London Assembly election.

Florence Nosegbe a Councillor from Coldharbour lane who is standing to become the candidate to replace Val Shawcross says she has a "'strong track record of making change locally." She as promised to do the same "across Lambeth and Southwark for all our different communities."

If she is successful, the Nigerian Councillor will represent wards that includes Peckham - an area dubbed as mini Lagos or the 36th state of Nigeria.

"The opportunity to represent Lambeth and Southwark on a GLA level will be fantastic. To take it to the next level will be great," she expressed in her campaign video, released as members of the party begins to receive their ballot papers.

Some of the issues, Cllr Florence hopes to tackle if selected is "housing, transport and something close to my heart, the issue of policing and crime."

The proud south Londoner was able to keep libraries in Lambeth from closing when other boroughs were closing theirs. In fact, Cllr Florence who was Cabinet member for Culture, Sport and the Olympic in the 2012 Olympics helped to open a new library in Clapham.

She also reversed the decision to temporary cancel the Lambeth Country Show in 2012 due to the Olympics. This made her very popular with the community.

The popular Cllr has been nominated by three (Vauxhall, Streatham and Dulwich and West Norwood) out of five of the constituencies she hopes to represents.

She has received the support of Lib Peck, the council leader in Lambeth and that of Labour Veterans Lord Roy Kennedy of Southwark and Dame Tessa Jowell who is seeking the Mayoral ticket for the same party.

Members have till next month to select a candidate to stand for Lambeth and Southwark.

Adenike Lucas who has also endorsed Cllr Florence urged many others to do the same.

She said: "I was mentored by Florence. She devoted lots of her time for me and many others. The Florence I know is happy when others are happy and she would go out of her way to ensure this happens. She connects well with everyone and I believe this are skills that are currently missing within the party. "