AKRON, Ohio — Akron City Council failed to meet its deadline Monday to appoint a police oversight board. The delay is attributed to the controversy surrounding one candidate, Imokhai Okolo. 

What You Need To Know

  • Akron City Council failed to meet the deadline to appoint a police oversight board

  • It was due to the controversy over one candidate, Imokhai Okolo

  • Okolo said he believes he was treated unfairly 

  • He still wants to help change the Akron community however he can

Okolo wanted to join the police oversight board to help make change happen.

“It’s important that we have our sort of advice as young Black folks in this city, and I felt like I could do that,” he said.

City council needed nine votes to appoint the board, but only received eight. The council members that voted against putting Okolo on the board said it’s mostly because of a social media post Okolo put up after Jayland Walker’s death, in which he referred to cops as “pigs.”

Okolo expressed he was apologetic for posting it.

“Certainly it was out of anger and out of frustration, but it was in that moment, being a lawyer, sort of critically thinking through these things and understanding the biases in our communities, in our justice system, that just took me off the edge,” he said.

Okolo, along with other city council members, believed he was judged unfairly.

“I think they’re trying to point to one social media post and trying to define me, define my character, define my 27 years of lived experience on this earth into one social media post,” Okolo said. “And I think the community recognizes that’s not legitimate. I think there’s plenty of city counselors who recognize that’s not legitimate, and it’s really just a farce.”

Regardless of the situation, he has felt supported by the Akron community.

“A lot of what happened at that early committee meeting was a surprise, right? You know, it wasn’t until 15 minutes after the meeting started that they sort of gave this substitute list and after that, folks put the call out. Like hey, this is unacceptable. We need to go down to city council and we need to demand that they do the right thing,” he said.

He still has hope that he will be appointed to the police oversight board, but if not, he will continue to push for change in his community.

“I’m focused on building power and organizing in my city,” he said