Emmanuel Onunwor (born May 24, 1952, as Emmanuel Onunwa) is a Nigeria-born American who served as the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of East Cleveland,

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Biography

Onunwor was born in

Port Harcourt Port Harcourt (Pidgin: ''Po-ta-kot or Pi-ta-kwa)'' is the capital and largest city of Rivers State in Nigeria. It is the fifth most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Benin. It lies along the Bonny River and is locate ...

Rivers State Rivers is a states of Nigeria, state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria (Old Eastern Region). Formed on 27 May 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Nigeria, Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include Imo State, Im ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

where he attended primary and secondary schools. In 1980, he immigrated to the United States where he earned a B.A. and M.A. in urban studies at

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in oper ...

. In the November 1997 general election, running as a non-partisan, he defeated incumbent mayor Wallace D. Davis with 62.56% of the vote. He was sworn in on January 1, 1998 becoming the first African-born Black mayor in the United States. In the November 2001 general election, running as a Republican, he was re-elected with 71.19% of the vote defeating Democrat Eric J. Brewer (who would later win election as mayor in 2005). After being convicted for

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

, and

tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...

, he resigned on September 1, 2004. He was succeeded by the East Cleveland City Council President, Democrat Saratha Goggins, the first female mayor of East Cleveland. In September 2005, he was

sentenced Sentenced was a Finnish gothic metal band that played melodic death metal in their early years. The band formed in 1989 in the town of Muhos and broke up in 2005. Lead guitarist Miika Tenkula was the band's vocalist for the first album, but du ...

by U.S. District Court judge

James S. Gwin James Steven Gwin (born August 10, 1954) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Education and career Born in Canton, Ohio in 1954, Gwin graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas ...

to nine years in prison. At sentencing, Onunwor stated: "I apologize to my family, my friends and the citizens...I did wrong. I deserve to be punished.

Personal life

In 2009, his son, Clifton Onunwor, was sentenced to life in prison for killing his mother, Diane Onunwor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onunwor, Emmanuel 1952 births Living people African-American mayors in Ohio American people convicted of tax crimes American politicians of Nigerian descent Politicians convicted of racketeering Ohio politicians convicted of crimes Mayors of places in Ohio Immigrants to the United States Cleveland State University alumni Mayors of East Cleveland, Ohio 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people