In a diplomatic note through Nigeria's mission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which hosts the AU headquarters, Mr Buhari announced Mrs Okonjo-Iweala as the country's candidate for the WTO job.

The two other African candidates shortlisted by the AU alongside Mr Agah were Egypt's Hamid Mamdouh, a trade lawyer, member of the WTO Secretariat, and trade negotiator for Egypt; and Beninoise Eloi Laourou, the ambassador and permanent representative of Benin to the United Nations and other organisations in Geneva.

In her two-page letter, Benin informed the Permanent Missions of the Member States of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (01F) at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva of its decision to withdraw its candidate, Eloi however, emerged Tuesday that there are more hurdles for the former finance minister to cross in actualising her dream of clinching the WTO top job.

The counsel noted that in July 2019, the Executive Council during its Thirty Fifth Ordinary Session held in Niamey, Niger, called on the AU member States to consider presenting candidates to the AU Ministerial Committee on Candidatures in the International System for the position of WTO Director General by November 30, 2019, with a view to endorse one candidate during the February 2020 Ordinary Session.

"However, due to the lack of consensus to agree on one suitable candidate during the February 2020 Summit, the Executive Council through decision Ex Cl 1090 (XXXVI) recalled the Ex Cl Dec 10T2 (XXXV) and endorsed respectively the candidates from Benin, Egypt and Nigeria as short listed for the post of the Director General of the WTO (the names of the candidates were incorporated in the Report of the Committee on International Candidatures presented to the Executive Council).