More facts have emerged on why a seeming gang-up by some francophone countries nearly cost Nigeria its bid to occupy the post of Secretary-General of the Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA).
Recall that Nigeria angrily left the MOWCA recently over what she perceived as disregard for the rules of procedure regarding the eligibility of candidates nominated for the position of the organisation’s Secretary-General by Benin Republic and Guinea.
Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune exclusively on the matter, a member of the Nigerian delegation that attended the elections meeting in Kinshasa explained that the French-speaking countries rallied round their members to ensure Nigeria’s bid was not successful.
According to the delegate who wouldn’t want her name in print as she is not authorised to speak on the matter, “The odds were stacked against Nigeria during the MOWCA elections. We have 23 countries in West and Central Africa which make up MOWCA, and out of the 23, 14 are francophone speaking countries.
“The 14 French-speaking countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. Only five are English speaking countries. They are The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Others are three Portugese speaking countries namely Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Sao Tome & Principe; and one Spanish speaking country, Equatorial Guinea.
“From the 14 members who are French speaking countries, two fielded candidates for the same position that Nigeria wanted to occupy. Aside that, some of them saw Nigeria’s effort to occupy the MOWCA Secretary General position as a plan to dominate the region. So the gang-up was fierce. Nigeria had the odds stacked against it.
“Thus, we were not surprised when some of them decided to turn a blind eye to the fact that some of the candidates fielded by these French speaking countries didn’t meet the criteria set out by the MOWCA election guidelines. They just pretended as if nothing was wrong. And that was why we had to protest.”
Recall that Nigeria recently left the MOWCA over what it called disregard for the rules of procedure regarding the eligibility of candidates nominated for the position of the organisation’s Secretary-General by Benin Republic and Guinea.
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