Samuel Ifeanyi "Vop" Osili, Jr. (born 1963) is a Democratic politician from Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a member of the Indianapolis City-County Council from the 11th district, in the northwestern portion of Center Township. Since February 2018, he has been the council's president. On December 22, 2011, an Indiana judge declared him the secretary of state-elect of Indiana due to first-place finisher Charlie White's ineligibility, though this was later reversed on appeal. Early life Osili was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to a Nigerian father and an American mother. He was said to be very talkative as a toddler, which led his parents to nickname him "Vop"—short for "Voice of the People." The nickname stuck. In the midst of the Nigerian Civil War, he and his mother fled to the United States; his father didn't follow them for another five years. They settled in his maternal grandparents' home in Haughville. He grew up as a Republican but became a Democrat in the 1990s. Education and early career Osili graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a bachelor's degree in architecture, and earned a master's degree in architecture and urban design from Columbia University. He later served as a missionary to Haiti and other developing countries. He is a founding partner of A2SO4, an Indianapolis-based architectural design company that was one of the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified firms in the nation. He was a member of the Indiana Fire and Building Services Commission from 2001 to 2005, and chairman of the Indianapolis Board of Zoning Appeals from 2005 to 2008. At various times, he served as a member of the boards of the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis, the United Way of Central Indiana and the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Secretary of State of Indiana election In 2010, Osili was the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State of Indiana, pledging to reinvigorate the business services section of the office. He was initially a heavy underdog against Republican candidate Charlie White. However, White came under fire for claiming his former home in Fishers as his official residence and continuing to serve on the Fishers town council even after moving out of town, and for voting in his old precinct in the Republican primary. Polls initially showed Osili gaining ground on White in the Indianapolis area as a result of the controversy. However, on election day, Osili took only 37 percent of the vote