Buhari reassures Adesina, AfDB President, of support

President Buhari hosting the AfDB President on a courtesy visit at the State House, Abuja, stated: “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 wouldn’t withhold my support.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday reassured Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), that Nigeria will support him in the contest for a second term for the leadership of the AfDB.

“I’ll remain consistent with you because no one has faulted the step I took on behalf of Nigeria.”

President Buhari further promised that Nigeria will mobilize other African leaders and stakeholders in AfDB for the re-election of Adesina for a second term because of the record of his achievements during his first term.

The African Union was said to have endorsed the Adesina,  AfDB President, as sole candidate for the continent; however, some other stakeholders were said to be fighting that Adesina should be re-investigated over allegations, which the board of the bank had already exonerated him. But the combatant stakeholders want Adesina disqualified from seeking second term.

Dr. Adesina acquainted the Nigerian President that 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 noted that after the Ethics Committee of the bank cleared him of all the allegations, a fresh investigation was called for on the same allegations.

Adesina declared: “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 thanked President Buhari for his consistent support, saying: “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.”

Adesina, thereafter, commiserated  with President Buhari on the death of the former Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari, commended him on the appointment of the new Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, who he described as “a man of integrity, and of global standing.”