ON Thursday, July 16, Dele Momodu, a Nigerian journalist and publisher of The Ovation magazine claimed that Kenya’s Amina Mohammed has beaten Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General’s position.
The claim which was started with the kicker “Breaking News” was tweeted on his twitter handle @DeleMomodu around 6:30pm.
Momodu has over 1.2 million followers on his verified handle. The tweet garnered 370 likes, 170 retweets and 64 comments before it was deleted.
A news medium, City News also posted a similar report on its website.
CLAIM
The tweet reads: “Breaking News: Kenya’s Amina Mohammed beats Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo Iweala for the WTO’S top Job.
The claim here is : Did Kenya’s Amina Mohammed beats Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo Iweala for the WTO’s top job?
FINDINGS
Findings by THE ICIR revealed that although both Okonjo Iweala and Amina Mohammed are among the eight contestants jostling for the position of the WTO’s Director-General position, no one has been elected for the position.
While Amina Mohammed is Kenya’s candidate for the job , Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy is the Nigeria’s candidate for the same job.
A check on the WTO’s website further revealed that nomination period for the 2020 DG selection process ended on 8 July and they are currently at the phase where the candidates are being invited to meet with members at a special General Council meeting, which is scheduled to hold from 15 to 17 July.
In addition, according to the information on the WTO’s website, the second phase of the process in which the candidates “make themselves known to members” will end on 7 September. After which the third phase would commence.
The third stage is expected to take place within a period of two months, which may involve more than one stage of consultations as members seek to narrow the field of candidates.
Further checks by The ICIR revealed that Dele Momodu has tweeted a correction to his earlier tweet stating that Amina Mohammed has not been confirmed for the WTO top job. He apologised for his action.
His tweet reads: “CORRECTION… Just received news that AMINA MOHAMED has not been confirmed for the W.T.O job but nominated by KENYA… The interviews are still ongoing…
“So is Nigeria. Even after NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA’S interview the Nigerian delegation is still with Ngozi in Geneva. Very sorry.”
VERDICT
Based on the available information the claim that Kenya’s Amina Mohammed beats Nigeria’s Okonjo Iweala for the WTO’s top job is FALSE.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via niyioyedeji1@gmail.com. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.