Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, a Djiboutian diplomat, has been elected as the chairman of the African Union’s executive commission.
The election was held during the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In a post on X on Saturday, Nigeria’s presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed that Youssouf defeated Raila Odinga of Kenya to become chairman after five rounds of voting.
According to him, observers expected Odinga to win, but after a “more convincing” speech, Youssouf swung the votes in his favour.
“Youssouf’s emergence stunned Odinga, who observers expected to win.
“However, Odinga spent three minutes out of the five allowed reviewing the history of Pan-Africanism and African solidarity. He had not spoken about his vision when the electronic timer cut him off.
“In contrast, Youssouf sounded more convincing when presenting his vision. Odinga had started well by leading in the first round, only to lose votes even after the third candidate from Madagascar dropped off.
Youssouf received 33 votes to defeat Odinga and now takes over from Moussa Faki Mahamat of Chad, who spent two terms of 4 years each.
The 59-year-old career diplomat has been the foreign minister of Djibouti since 2005.
He was previously Djibouti’s ambassador to Egypt and has also served as foreign minister in the governments of three presidents.
He speaks English, French and Arabic, and, though he is considered an outside contender, observers have praised his low-key campaign.
On Thursday, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu arrived in Addis Ababa to participate in the session.
Ambassador Tuggar later briefed President Tinubu about the summit and some diplomatic wins for the country, a session that stretched until about 2 a.m. on Friday.
Among the wins was the re-election of Ambassador Bankole Adeoye as African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security.
Nigeria also retained its seat on the African Union Peace and Security Council, reaffirming, in the words of Ambassador Tuggar, “Nigeria’s leadership and commitment to peace and security on the continent.”
At the briefing were Mr Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance; Abubakar Badaru, Minister of Defence; Jumoke Oduwole, the Minister of Trade and Investment; Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation; Muhammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation; Balarabe Abbas Lawal, Minister of Environment; and Doris Uzoka-Anite, Minister of State for Finance.
Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed, Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, and Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, the Chief of Naval Staff, also attended the briefing.
This year’s AU summit, under the theme “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations,” focuses on reparatory justice and racial healing.
Tinubu was billed to deliver a speech at the summit-level meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council, focusing on current security challenges on the continent, including the escalation of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
