President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has sent a congratulatory message to the President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina after an Independent Review Panel completely exonerated him of any ethical wrongdoings.
The Nigerian President commended Adesina’s transparency stating that he is destined to take the bank to a new level.
There were various reports how the Independent Review Panel was set up by the Bureau of Governors of the Bank, following a complaint by the United States, to review the process by which two previous organs of the Bank – the Ethics Committee of the Board, and the Bureau of the Board of Governors – had previously exonerated Adesina.
The three-member Independent Review Panel include Mary Robinson, who is a former President of the Republic of Ireland, a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Chairperson of the Elders, a global body of wise persons concerned with the world’s wellbeing; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Gambia, Hassan B. Jallow; and Leonard McCarthy, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, a former Director for the Office of Serious Economic Offences, and a former Head of the Directorate of Special Operations of South Africa. He also served as the Vice President of Integrity for the World Bank for nine years.
Apart from reviewing the report of the ethics committee, the panel also reviewed each of the 16 allegations by the whistleblowers and Mr Adesina’s responses to them.and finds that they were properly considered and dismissed by the Committee.”
The panel vindicated Mr Adesina and stated that “It has considered the President’s submissions on their face and finds them consistent with his innocence and to be persuasive.”
The conclusions of the Independent Review Panel now clear the way for governors of the bank to re-elect Mr Adesina to a second five-year term as president during annual meetings of the bank scheduled for August 25-27.
