President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that the country will give its total support for the re-election of Akinwumi Adesina as the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB)
As disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President gave this assurance at the State House, Abuja, on Tuesday, while hosting Adesina on a courtesy visit.
“In 2015, when you were to be elected for the first term, I wrote to all African leaders, recommending you for the position. I didn’t say because you were a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Minister, and I belonged to the All Progressives Congress (APC), so I would withhold my support. I’ll remain consistent with you, because no one has faulted the step I took on behalf of Nigeria,” said President Buhari.
The President vowed that Nigeria would work with all other leaders and stakeholders in AfDB to ensure that Dr Adesina was elected for a second term built on the record of his achievements during his first term.
Some Stakeholders are pushing for the re-investigation of the allegations against Adesina which could render him ineligible in his re-election bid even theough the African Union had already endorsed the him, incumbent AfDB President as sole candidate for the continent.
Explaining happenings in the bank, Dr Adesina, a former Nigerian Minister for Agriculture, said the 16 allegations raised against him were trumped up, “and without facts, evidence, and documents, as required by the rules and regulations of the bank.”
Adding that the Ethics Committee of the bank cleared him of all the allegations and calls for fresh investigation by the United States of America were against the rules, Dr Adesina said:
“My defense ran into 250 pages, and not a single line was faulted or questioned. The law says that report of the Ethics Committee should be transmitted to the Chairman of Governors of the bank. It was done, and the governors upheld the recommendations. That was the end of the matter, according to the rules. It was only if I was culpable that a fresh investigation could be launched. I was exonerated, and any other investigation would amount to bending the rules of the bank, to arrive at a predetermined conclusion”.
He stressed that the motive was to soil his name, and that of the bank. He added that he was proud to be Nigerian, and appreciated President Buhari for his unflinching support.
“You helped me to get elected in the first place, and you have supported me robustly all along, and the African Union unanimously endorsed my re-election” he declared.
He commiserated with President Buhari on the death of the former Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari. He described Professor Ibrahim Gambari, new Chief of Staff as “a man of integrity, and of global standing.”
