OGR July - August Edition 2020

President Muhammadu Buhari has
said that Nigeria will stand solidly
behind Dr. Akinwumi Adesina in
his bid to get re-elected as President of
the African Development Bank (AfDB).
In a statement made known to Oil and
Gas Republic, The President made this
declaration at the State House, Abuja, on
Tuesday 2nd June 2020, while hosting
Dr. 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 pledged 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.
FEATURED CONTENT
President Buhari: Nigeria will Support Adesina for his
Re-election as AFDB President
The African Union had already endorsed the
incumbent AfDB President as the sole
candidate for the continent, but some other
stakeholders are trying to ensure that Dr.
Adesina is re-investigated on some
allegations, and rendered ineligible to run.
Giving a background to what was happening
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.”
He added that the Ethics Committee of the
bank cleared him of all the allegations, and
calls for a fresh investigation by the United
States of America were against the rules.
“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,” Dr. Adesina said.
Stressing that the motive was to soil 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.
While commiserating with President Buhari
on the death of the former Chief of Staff,
Mallam Abba Kyari, Dr. Adesina described
Professor Ibrahim Gambari, new Chief of Staff
as “a man of integrity, and of global standing.”
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OIL AND GAS REPUBLIC I SPECIAL EDITION