The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Wednesday agreed to keep its current Secretary-General, Libyan Abdullah al-Badri, thus not confirming the nomination of President Goodluck Jonathan for the influential position.
Jonathan had nominated the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, to succeed the long-serving incumbent, who had previously planned to retire in 2012.
But the 12-member organisation, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, decided to extend al-Badri’s tenure, dashing the ambition of Alison-Madueke.
The proposal to have Alison-Madueke to serve as OPEC’s secretary-general was to solve the deadlock over the post created by opposing candidates from Saudi Arabia and Iran, Iraqi’s Oil Minister, Abdul Kareem Luaibi, had said on Tuesday.
It was learnt that Nigeria’s delegation to the OPEC conference made a push during the week to nominate Alison-Madueke for the post in order to resolve the differences among members who had been split over who would replace al-Badri.
