The Egyptian government has filed objections to the candidature of the former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, barely 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari announced her nomination as Nigeria’s candidate to be the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
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the Egyptian government has sent a letter to the Ministerial Committee on Candidatures for the elections to reject Okonjo-Iweala’s nomination, despite the fact that the July 8, 2020, deadline for the closure of nominations for the elections is more than a month away.
President Buhari, confirming Okonjo-Iweala’s nomination on Thursday said that Nigeria was replacing a previous Nigerian nominee for the post, Yonov Frederick Agah, who was being withdrawn.
The president, in his diplomatic communication through the Nigerian Embassy and Permanent Mission to the African Union (AU) and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Addis Ababa, did not give reasons for his decision to withdraw Mr Agah’s candidacy.
the Egyptian government in its communication No. 081 /2020- AU of June 5, 2020, to the Permanent Missions of the WTO Member States of the Ministerial Committee on Candidatures, however, said the decision to withdraw Mr Agah’s candidature meant Nigeria forfeited its chance to participate in the race.
A copy of the memo was sent to the African Union Commission (Commissioner of Political Affairs/Office of Legal Counsel).
In the memo, Egypt said as far as it was concerned, three candidates, representing the Republic of Benin, Egypt and Nigeria, had already obtained the endorsement of the Executive Council to contest the position of the WTO Director-General vide its decision EX.CL/December. 1090(XXXVI) of February 2020.
It named the three candidates to include Eloi Laourou of the Republic of Benin, Abdulhameed Mamdouh of the Arab Republic of Egypt Arab Republic, and Mr Agah of Nigeria.
With the withdrawal of Mr Agah’s candidature, the Egyptian government said it was requesting the Ministerial Committee on Candidatures to officially inform the African Group in Geneva about the development and Nigeria’s disqualification.
Okonjo-Iweala has a global stature as a former Managing Director (operations) of the World Bank, finance expert, economist and international development professional with over 30 years experience.
