Moses Ofodeme
Nigeria’s nominee as the Director General of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, Ngozi Okonji-Iweala may have been dropped.
The African Union (AU) has revealed the nomination is invalid.
This was after Egypt, which has a rival candidate, requested the bloc to look at the matter.
The African Union in February shortlisted three candidates from Egypt, Nigeria and Benin; out of which one would be endorsed for the race to head the WTO.
However, Nigeria had withdrawn its nominee, Frederick Agah, who previously served as deputy director-general of the WTO, replacing him with Okonjo-Iweala, a former Finance Minister.
Egypt had protested her nomination and approached the AU; asking the body to offer a legal opinion on whether the candidacy conforms to the AU Executive Council rules.
A five-page report sent to the Egyptian embassy in Addis Abba had seen the AU invalidate the nomination of Okonjo-Iweala.
The union’s Office of the Legal Counsel said Nigeria’s withdrawal of the first candidate; while replacing him with another was not in line with the bloc’s nomination rules.
Nigeria withdrew Agah on June 4, replacing him with Okonjo-Iweala; a development which the AU ruled was after the deadline of November 30, 2019.
Also, the AU faulted Nigeria’s modus operandi for the replacement. It disclosed that the Nigerian government had notified it about the candidacy in a note verbale. However, the bloc held that rules stipulate that the AU should acknowledge receipt containing the date and the stamp of submission.
The candidates were already shortlisted in February and their names were submitted to the Executive Council for the endorsement of a single nominee, it added in its letter.
“Candidatures shall be submitted to the [AU] commission at least two months prior the sessions of the Executive Council, which shall consider them. Candidates can only be accepted after the deadlines in case no other candidates have been submitted for a position, the submission has been closed, or if there are more vacancies for Africans than submissions received, according to the union’s rules.
“It is a recognised principle of international law that a sovereign state shall have the right to withdraw, substitute and replace a candidate for a position. However, that right does not grant the state the right to change the existing rules,” the letter said.
Meanwhile, four candidates are currently in the race to head the WTO. They are Nigeria;s Okonjo-Iweala; Abdel Hamid Mamdouh, a lawyer and a trade negotiator from Egypt; Jesús Seade Kuri from Mexico and Tudor Ulianovschi from Moldova.
Current Director-General of the WTO, Roberto Azevêdo will end his term on 31 August 2020.
The director-general of the WTO is appointed for a four-year term. However, the person is eligible for reappointment. The appointment process starts nine months ahead of the expiry of the current director-general’s term.