The following year, Akinbusoye lost re-election as police and crime commissioner.
Early life and education
Born in Lagos, Nigeria to Nigerian parents, Akinbusoye emigrated in 1991, as a thirteen-year-old with his parents and twin sister. The family settled in Canning Town, East London.[3]
Akinbusoye played basketball at university, and played professionally in what was then called the Budweiser British Basketball League. He has a collection of 40 Air Jordan basketball trainers.[5][6]
In the 2021 election, Akinbusoye was elected as Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner. In this role, he noted his experiences with stop and search as a young man growing up in London, and time mentoring young offenders in prison, as having shaped some of his approach towards policing.[10][11]
Rigby talked about racism in British society, and mentioned that when Kwasi Kwarteng was Chancellor, a Labour MP said that Kwarteng was "superficially" black; Akinbusoye said "that was exceptionally, exceptionally disgusting; it was exceptionally in my view racist, and stereotyping in the worst way because he [the Labour MP] was suggesting that to be black you have to be able to speak a certain way, to be black you cannot go to Eton, or Oxford, or the top schools in the world because that's not what black people do."[11]
After being selected to contest the 2023 Mid Bedfordshire by-election, he was urged by his local crime panel to stand down as commissioner.[12] A subsequent public meeting revealed that the panel decision and open letter calling on Akinbusoye to step down as PCC while campaigning had not been seen nor agreed to by all panel members as the letter had stated, with a Liberal Democrat member describing the decision as "biased, unfair, undemocratic" and "borderline bullying" of Akinbusoye.[13]
In April 2024, Akinbusoye was reprimanded over social media posts he had made. Akinbusoye had alleged in a post that a member of the public had misused public funds. Akinbusoye said he "totally rejects and refutes the findings and will be responding fully as part of the formal process in due course".[14]
Akinbusoye lost the May 2024 election to Labour. He remarked of his tenure as PCC that he was "really proud of what has been done in three years".[15]
2023 Mid Bedfordshire by-election and PCC re-election campaign
In January, Akinbusoye announced on the Andy CollinsBBC Three Counties Radio show that he would not be seeking selection for the next parliamentary election,[17] and would seek re-election for a second term as Bedfordshire's PCC.[18] He was unsuccessful in the resulting contest, losing to Labour candidate John Tizard.[15]
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