Femi Oluwole (born 17 March 1990) is a British political activist and co-founder of the pro-

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

advocacy group

Our Future Our Choice Our Future Our Choice (OFOC) was a British pro-European Union advocacy group for young people. History The Twitter account for OFOC was created 19 October 2017. OFOC was incorporated as a company on 19 February 2018. Its four founding members ...

(OFOC). He has appeared as an activist and commentator on British television. He has written for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and '' The Metro''.

Early life and education

Oluwole was born in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

to Nigerian parents – a surgeon father and a

paediatrician Pediatrics (American and British English differences, also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, Adolescence, adolescents, and young adults. In the United King ...

mother, who both emigrated to the United Kingdom in the 1980s. He grew up in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

but as a child lived in several different places across the country, having once attended a school in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. He was privately educated at the

Yarm School Yarm School is a co-educational independent day school in Yarm, North Yorkshire in the North East of England. The school accepts pupils aged 3–18 years old and has a Nursery Pre-Prep, Preparatory School, Senior School and Sixth Form. The Sch ...

, and went on to study law and the French language at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

, while completing an Erasmus Programme year in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Career

Oluwole has worked in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and human rights agencies. At the age of 27 he left his job and moved into his parents' loft to become a campaigner against

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

, telling the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' that he made the decision to quit because he was "frustrated that the pro-Remain argument was not being made effectively by mainstream politicians." In pursuing this, Oluwole created the social media channel Our Future Our Choice in September 2017, which, with the collaboration of Will Dry and Lara Spirit, who had launched an anti-Brexit

student activism Student activism or campus activism is work by students to cause political, environmental, economic, or social change. Although often focused on schools, curriculum, and educational funding, student groups have influenced greater political e ...

movement in universities, was incorporated as a company on 19 February 2018. The group advocated a pro-EU message from a youth standpoint. He supported the

People's Vote People's Vote was a United Kingdom campaign group that unsuccessfully campaigned for a second referendum following the UK's Brexit vote to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. The group was launched in April 2018 at which four Members of Pa ...

campaign for a further referendum on EU membership. Oluwole regularly appeared in the media during the process of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union. Oluwole has written for ''

'', ''

'', and the ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

'', and has appeared on

Talkradio TalkRadio (previously styled as talkRADIO) is a talk radio station broadcasting nationally in the United Kingdom, which was relaunched on 21 March 2016. Based in London and owned by Wireless Group, a subsidiary of News Corp., it is the sist ...

. In July 2019,

Richard Tice Richard James Sunley Tice (born 13 September 1964) is a British businessman and right wing politician who has been Leader of Reform UK since 6 March 2021. Tice was CEO of the real estate group CLS Holdings from 2010 to 2014, after which he bec ...

, chair of the Brexit Party, threatened to sue Oluwole after he alleged that

Leave.EU Leave.EU was a political campaign group that was first established to support the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, June 2016 referendum. Founded in July 2015 as ...

(an organisation Tice co-founded) was "overtly

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

". Oluwole refused to apologise. In February 2022, Oluwole caused a row by suggesting on television that the UK was not a democracy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oluwole, Femi 1989 births Living people People educated at Yarm School Alumni of the University of Nottingham Alumni of the Erasmus Programme British activists English people of Nigerian descent People from Darlington