Dr Martin Uhoimoibhi, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said Nigeria’s position at the just concluded AU Chairmanship election was based on principle.<\/p>\n
Uhoimoibhi, who spoke at a press briefing in Abuja, dispelled rumours that Nigeria lost the contest to South Africa.<\/p>\n
“It would be wrong to view the outcome of the election of the Chairperson of AU Commission as failure of Nigeria’s diplomacy.<\/p>\n
“For a start, Nigeria did not contest the post, what played out was the quality of Nigeria’s principle to abide by its commitments in the continent, and to go to a great length to promote and defend Africa’s unity and solidarity,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on the grounds of principle, Nigeria respected AU’s unwritten agreement, which stipulates that the top four financiers of the bloc would not vie for the chairperson seat.<\/p>\n
The financiers include, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Libya.<\/p>\n
Still on principled stance, he said that the nation stood by ECOWAS’s decision to support incumbent Chairman, Dr Jean Ping.<\/p>\n
However, Ping lost his re-election bid to South Africa’s Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.<\/p>\n
Uhoimobhi said that after three attempts, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Guinea, Dr Aisha Abdullahi won “a hotly contested election for the post of Commissioner of Political Affairs.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
He said that Nigeria however secured endorsement for election into key international positions.<\/p>\n
“These include Dr Kanayo Nwanze for re-election as President of the International Fund for Agriculture Development, and Dr Olumuyiwa Aliu for the post of President, Executive Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.<\/p>\n
“As well as Dr Kolawale Aduloju for the post of Assistant Secretary General of the Pan African Postal Union,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
NAN reports that the 19th Ordinary Summit of the AU which ended on July 16 in Addis Ababa had the theme: “Boosting Intra-African Trade\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
Part of the resolution reached at the summit was the establishment of a Continental Free Trade Area by 2017.<\/p>\n
Vice President Namadi Sambo led the Nigerian delegation. (NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr Martin Uhoimoibhi, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said Nigeria’s position at the just concluded AU Chairmanship election was based on principle. Uhoimoibhi, who spoke at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n