AfDB Impasse: Nigeria Is Solidly Behind You, Buhari Tells Adesina

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Dr Akinwumi Adesina President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), of Nigeria unwavering support.

The President gave the assurance when he played host to the embattled AfDB president at the presidential villa in Aso Rock, Abuja on Tuesday.

In a statement by the president’s media aide, Femi Adesina, he was quoted as saying he would be consistent with the former minister of agriculture.

The president added that their political party affiliation would not get in the way of his relationship with Adesina.

The president was quoted to have said “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.’’

The President pledged that Nigeria would work with all other leaders and stakeholders in AfDB to ensure that Adesina was elected for a second term built on the record of his achievements during his first term.

The African Union had already endorsed the incumbent AfDB President as sole candidate for the continent.

However, Adesina re-election bid is hanging by a thread as he faces stiff opposition from other stakeholders who wanted him to be re-investigated by external and independent body over allegations of impropriety levelled against by some whistleblowers.

Reacting to the allegations, Adesina 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.”

He added 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.

Also Read: “They Are Trumped-up Allegations” — Adesina Breaks Silence On AfDB Crisis

“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,’’ Adesina said.

While stressing that the motive was to tarnish his name, and that of the bank, the AfDB President said he was proud to be Nigerian, and thanked 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.

Adesina also described the new Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, as “a man of integrity, and of global standing.”