Tiktok lawyer from Aldridge enters West Midlands Mayoral race
A George Galloway backed candidate from Aldridge has entered the Mayoral election race.
Akhmed Yakoob hopes to replicate the electoral success of Mr Galloway's shock victory in the Rochdale by-election last month.
Mr Yakoob is a criminal defence solicitor, who has represented some of the biggest criminals in the Midlands, and this is his first tilt at elected office.
The 36-year-old father of four is standing as an independent candidate but has secured the backing of George Galloway MP, who founded and leads the Workers Party of Britain.
The veteran politician won a shock victory in the Rochdale by-election after running on a platform demanding a ceasefire in Gaza whilst the official Labour position stopped short of it.
Mr Galloway tweeted: "Akhmed Yakoob is the only choice for West Midlands Mayor."
Mr Yakoob told the Express & Star "I am delighted to have got the endorsement of George Galloway."
"The main political parties speak for no-one, that is why I am standing to be a voice for the voiceless."
Mr Yakoob is a TikTok star who has had millions of views for his posts about the criminal justice system and is known as the TikTok lawyer.
His videos have become many viewers only source of legal information.
His video 'Two things you can't be arrested for' has over 606.7k views on TikTok and 21.8k likes. 'What is a suspended sentence' has been watched more than 292.8k times and 18.7k people.
He added: "I am enjoying campaigning, a lot of people are unhappy about a lot of things. Everything costs more, and now working people are being hit by these clean air taxes. In Birmingham I have had people who have been hit by fines for taking their ill child to the Children's Hospital. It's all wrong."
Mr Yakoob lives in Aldridge after moving from his native Aston due the rise of crime in his area.
He said: "I grew up in Aston but as I have four children I had to move out because of the amount of HMOs in the area. They ruin an area, drug dealing goes up and I just did not want my children to grow up around that.
"As Mayor I will do everything I can to stop HMOs ruining residential areas."
Mr Yakoob also wants to force council which are planning on collecting rubbish every fortnight to stick with weekly collections and wants to improve the skills of local people and try to drive down unemployment.
He said: "We need to give our young people better skills so they can thrive in the work place, so much needs to be done."
Mr Yakoob is director at lawyers Maurice Andrews, which is based in Hockley, Mr Yakoob sees the problems of criminal justice system.
He said: "I educate both my followers and members of the public about the law as much as possible. People should know that when they are arrested, they are entitled to free legal and impartial advice at the police station."
He said: "Crime keeps on going up and our court system cannot cope after so many cuts."
