AfDB: U.S. Wants To Frustrate Adesina’s Re-Election — OBASANJO

LAGOS /ABEOKUTA – Following the call by the United States’ Treasury Secretary for an independent investigation of allegations against Dr. Akinwunmi Ade­sina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has accused the United States government of an attempt to hijack the governance of the bank and frustrate the re-election bid of its Nigerian-born president.

Obasanjo, in a letter to twelve former African pres­idents and a former prime minister, a copy of which was obtained by Daily Inde­pendent, called on the former leaders to speak against the independent investigation of Adesina, describing same as an alien practice recommend­ed by interests outside Africa.

The former president, who, in the letter dated May 26, 2020, flaunted what he de­scribed as the unprecedented achievements of Adesina in the last five years, and said if the former leaders failed to rise up and defend the bank, that might mark its end in Africa.

Obasanjo said Adesina was investigated of code of ethics violation by some whis­tleblowers and exonerated by the Ethics Committee of the Board of Directors chaired by the Executive Director from Japan with members who represent shareholders member countries, after care­ful examination of each of the sixteen allegations against the president of the bank.

The former president fur­ther argued that the call for an independent investigation was outside the rules, laws, procedure and governance system of the bank after the chairman of the Board of Governors also concurred with the report exonerating Adesina of any code of ethics violation.

Obasanjo said the call for an independent investigation was disparaging to the bank and was an attempt to ridicule its governance system which had been in place since 1964.


The former president, however, called for a collective statement to support the laid down procedures embarked upon to evaluate the allega­tions against the president of the bank and to recommend that the Board of Governors as well as the Ethics Com­mittee of the bank firmly stand by the process and its outcome.

He said: “At issue are some allegations made by some whistleblowers that alleged that Dr. Adesina violated Code of Ethics as President.


“Dr. Adesina strongly de­nied the allegations as fabrica­tions and misinformation to disparage and discredit him.

“The laid down due pro­cess at the bank, the Ethics Committee of the Board of Directors, chaired by the Ex­ecutive Director from Japan and with members who rep­resent shareholder member countries, evaluated the alle­gations over a period of three months.

“The Ethic Committee of the Board of Directors, after examination of each of the 16 allegations of the whis­tleblowers, had dismissed each and all of the allegations as baseless and without any substantiation.

“The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the bank following review of the Ethics Committee report ex­onerating Dr. Adesina, con­curred with the conclusions and exonerated Dr. Adesina of all the allegations.

“The Ethics Committee and the Chairman of the Board of Governors had per­formed their duties as laid down in the rules and regula­tions of the bank.

“Unfortunately, the US government, through the US Treasury Secretary, has writ­ten a public letter (that was also distributed to the press globally) to disagree with the conclusion of the Ethics Committee of the Board of Directors and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the bank.

“Instead of accepting the exoneration of the president of the bank, they called for an ‘independent investigation’.

“This is outside of the rules, laws, procedure, and governance system of the bank.”

We Didn’t Ask Adesina To Step Down For Probe —- AfDB

Meanwhile, the Bureau of the Boards of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) on Thursday de­nied asking the bank’s Presi­dent, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, to step down for any probe.

The chairman of the bu­reau, Niale Kaba, in a state­ment said that the publica­tions trending in the media on purported directive of stepping down of Adesina was false.

Kaba said there was no governance crisis at AfDB as was being speculated at cer­tain quarters.

He cautioned that the bu­reau should be allowed to do its work and it would ensure due process as all governors would be carried along in re­solving whatever the issues might be.

“The bureau of the Boards of Governors of AfDB met on Tuesday, May 26, to consider the matter arising from a whistleblowers’ complaint against the president of the bank which was dealt with by the ethics committee of boards of directors of the bank.

“And for which I received letters from some stakehold­ers expressing various views.

“Following the meeting, my attention has been drawn to several publications in the national and international press regarding the content of the deliberations of the said meeting, and I’m compelled to make clarifications in order to avoid any misunderstanding.

“The bureau which I chaired wishes to reassure the public that it is treating the matter with the utmost seriousness that it deserves.

“The bureau wishes to inform the public that it has not taken any decision as was falsely conveyed in some pub­lications,” he added.