Nigeria’s bid for the position of African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security was lost to an Algerian candidate, whose country has held the position since the establishment of African Union in 2001.

At the AU’s 28th summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian capital, Nigeria’s Fatima Kyari Mohammed was beaten to the commission’s post by Smail Chergui, who is the third Algerian to hold the position.

Peace and Security Commissioner is usually regarded as the most important among the commissioners of AU. Others include; commissioners for Social Affairs, Trade and Industry, and Economic Affairs, Political Affairs, Infrastructure and Energy, Rural Economy and Agriculture, Human Resources, and Science and Technology.

Fatima was beaten by one vote as she pulled 35 votes while Chergui polled 36 votes at the second round of the election.

Sources said she lost the position because of her lack of adequate work experience in international diplomacy.

Fatima, founder and coordinator of the Like Minds Project, Nigeria, had worked for more than 10 years with ECOWAS and its institutions in different capacities, with a focus on Peace and Security, Regional Integration and Organizational Development. 

Chegui had the advantage of holding a senior position at the AU. The Algerian is the incumbent commissioner for peace and security, and knew better than any other candidate how to sell himself. He hammered this point home when seeking the backing of undecided countries.

How Fatima emerged as Nigeria’s candidate 

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that weeks after the candidates to be selected for screening and shortlisting had been interviewed based on experience and competence, Fatima was selected at the last moment against the recommendation of the Foreign Affairs ministry. 

A source, who is close to the process but preferred not to be named, said an interview panel headed by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, had interviewed a list of potential candidates for the post. 

According to the source, the candidates included, two professors of international law and politics, two directors in the ministry who had served as ambassadors, a retired Army General who had headed ECOWAS and AU Peacekeeping missions and a former three-term member of the National Assembly who had headed the parliamentary organ of the AU. 

After the interview, it was gathered that three, out of those screened, were chosen for having the requisite experience required for the job. Their names, our source said, were sent to the presidency, the list was dumped and Fatima was chosen to contest for the AU post. 

“The report on Fatima was that she’s good as candidate for the future not present.  But they presented her against the recommendation of the interview panel,” he said. 

According to him, Nigeria lost the position because it presented an inexperienced candidate for the position. 

He, however, said Nigeria would have secured a position in the AU commission if it had contested for Commissioner for Political Affairs, which the country had occupied for the past four years. 

“Instead of Nigeria to go for the one they had advantage, that is Political Affairs, they dropped that and went for Peace and Security. If we had gone for that, we might have won. Nigeria occupied that post for the past four years,” he said. 

He added, “The Presidency instead, substituted the successful candidates for Fatima, who was presented by Baba Gana Kingibe. 

“At the last minute, they now embarked on campaign, criss-crossing a number of African countries to lobby their leaders.” 

Kingibe is of Kanuri extraction, in Borno State, North-East Nigeria, same as Fatima. 

However, Onyeama said the choice of Fatima to represent Nigeria for the AU post was the decision of the government. 

 “The government selected her and then decided she should be the candidate,” the minister told Daily Trust on Sunday. 

The minister also confirmed that an interview panel was set up to screen a short list of candidates to represent Nigeria for the position. 

 “Yes, a committee was set up and recommendations were made as part of that process. It was finally decided that she should be the one to represent the country,” Onyema said. 

Algeria, which won the position, had lobbied Nigeria before. But after the July 2016 election was postponed, Nigeria, according to Onyeama, presented its candidate for the position and lobbied other African countries, including Algeria. 

“It is true that Algeria lobbied Nigeria and we lobbied Algeria also. There were actually two elections. In the first election, Nigeria didn’t have a candidate and it was communicated to Algeria that Nigeria did not have a candidate and was stepping down for Algeria. There was a communication to this effect. 

“That election was cancelled because they could not reach an agreement on the chair of the AU. A new process started and new candidates were invited to enter. Those were two different elections. Now, in this second election, Nigeria presented a candidate and made it clear to Algeria that we intended to contest for the position,” he said. 

Former Nigeria’s Minister for External Affairs, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, who was among the Nigerian delegation to the summit, said though it was quite unfortunate that Nigeria lost the position to Algeria, “this is not the time to cry over spilled milk.” 

“Though we believe we had a good candidate. But then other countries had better and formidable candidates,” Gambari told Daily Trust on Sunday in an exclusive interview.

He said, “I am not in government and don’t speak for any government. But I do not know how these appointments and selections are made. 

“But I believe if we rethink and look beyond whatever consideration and searched through all the nooks and crannies of our diplomatic circle with the interest of the nation at heart, we have more than over-qualified candidates that can fly and compete favourably with any other candidate from other African countries.” 

 According to daily trust , Prof Gambari described as “regrettable” the failure of Nigeria, a leading country in the peace and security maintenance in Africa, to secure any position in the AU commission. 

 “It is regrettable that right now, there is no single Nigerian in the entire AU commission. Nigeria, as you know, is among the major contributors not only to the budget of the AU but also in peace and security maintenance in our region. 

“Hence, there are important lessons to be learnt from the failure of the country’s effort to secure a single commissionership in the AU commission, including especially the big gaps in foreign policy making process. 

“Experience has also shown that any decision taken in bad faith against others always ends up with too many pitfalls,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the Presidency has kept mum over Nigerian candidate’s loss. When contacted, the Assistant to the Acting President on Media and Publicity, Mr Laolu Akande, declined reacting to the allegation that Mrs Mohammed lost the election because Nigeria placed ethnicity over merit in presenting her.

The spokesman of the acting president, in a text message last night, asked our correspondent to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.