Nigeria and Mauritania have been urged by the African Union (AU) Ministerial Candidature Committee to hold consultations and agree on a candidate for the post of deputy secretary-general of International Telecommunication Union.
The call was made on the sidelines of the AU summit in Malabo to select a consensus African candidate for the post, though the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports neither Nigeria nor Mauritania was willing to withdraw their candidate.
Nigeria’s candidate for the ITU position is Shola Taylor, former chairman of the ITU Radio Regulations Board, who had earlier been endorsed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for the 2015-2019 term, while the Mauritanian candidate is Fatimetou Mohammed-Saleck.
“The Nigeria delegation took a stance not to concede to Mauritania, more as our candidate has been endorsed by ECOWAS,” a Nigerian diplomat familiar with the negotiations told NAN.
If neither of the two nations withdraws their candidate, Africa may present two candidates at the elections, which will take place in Busan, South Korea in October.
Other candidates for the post are from Canada, Poland and the United Kingdom (UK).
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