By Eric Elezuo

It did not take very long before the French media reportedly unmasked the whistleblower behind the travails of top performing President of Africa Development Bank, Mr. Akinwunmi Adesina. He is the American representative at the bank, Stephen Dowd. The finance expert has led other colleagues to accuse Adesina of 16 charges bordering on nepotism and fraud in his capacity as the president of the continental bank, including preferential treatment for Nigeria and Nigerians among whom were Martin Fregene and Chinelo Anohu-Amazu.

It is believed that if not for the COVID-19 pandemic that erupted late 2019, Adesina would have been on his second lap of five years as the president of AfDB. Perhaps the United States would not have had the opportunity to bring its weight against a process that has been globally acclaimed as transparent and worthy of emulation.

Ever since the 25th of May, 2020 when the US through Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, released a statement declaring its dissatisfaction with the reports submitted by the Ethics Committee of the Board of Directors of the AfDB, led by Madame Kaba Niale, which sat variously for three months to determine the authenticity or otherwise of the fraud charges brought against Adesina. After periods of rigorous sittings, considering evidences, facts and documents submitted, the committee dismissed the allegations as ‘malicious’, given the embattled president a clean bill of health.

Bentelevision reported that according to several informed sources in and outside of Africa’s premier development institution, there was and always has been an insidious attempt by the United States to remove Akinwumi Adesina, as President of the Bank. It further highlighted that the United States vigorously opposed him during his election in 2015. Ever since, at a Board level, they have done everything possible to derail him and his Africa-focused development agenda.

Many observers believe that what the U.S. is unjustly muscling the African Development Bank, whose major shares are held by Nigeria and Egypt.

Recall that on January 16, 2020 allegations of ethical breaches were leveled against Adesina by whistleblowers, and in contravention of Bank rules, the complaint was conveniently leaked paving the way for assault and a smear campaign as the incumbent.

Consequently, a high powered Ethics Committee, comprising Executive Directors representing shareholder nations, deliberated over every single dot and cross of the allegations, and in May 2020 gave Adesina a clean bill of health. In their words, the committee said the allegations as frivolous, baseless, and without merit or evidence. The report and conclusive deliberations of the Ethics Committee was subsequently sent to all Finance Ministers, better referred to as Governors of the Bank’s 81 shareholder counties, including the United States for ratification.

Not even one of the allegations stuck, making the originators bow their faces in shame. A cross section of respondents told the Boss that Adesina would have to be removed as President of the Bank and made ineligible for re-election in May 2020, now August, 2020 if one allegation has scaled through.

But Adesina is not alone in the fight to prove the detractors wrong, and hold fast his presidency, at least until August when the next election is expected.

In a swift reaction to the action of the United States, the Federal Government responded with a letter addressed to Madame Niale, detailing the process already accepted and its solid stand with Adesina.

In the letter signed by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the Federal Government asked the Board to stand by the report of its Ethics Committee as well as charged the Board of development finance institution to ignore the U.S call and follow laid down processes to protect and preserve the bank.

The Nigerian government hinted that the governance procedures of the Bank during the investigation were followed to the letter including painstaking analysis of facts, evidence and documents. It noted that the whistleblowers were even prevailed upon to produce any more evidence at their disposal, but they failed they do so. It therefore, wondered at the sudden turnaround of the United States to call for another ‘independent investigation’.

“The Ethics Committee, following three months of work to examine the whistleblowers’ allegations made against the President, dismissed each and every one of the allegations of the whistleblowers against the President as unsubstantiated and baseless.

“The Nigerian Government welcomes this conclusion of the Ethics Committee and the decision of the Chair of the Board of Governors”, the statement read. The probe committee was headed by Takuji Yano, the institution’s Japanese Executive Director.

Towing the line of the Nigeria government, a former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, mobilised former African leaders to the rescue of the embattled president. In a letter, the former leader personally signed and copied about 13 former heads of state, cutting across all regions of Africa, Obasanjo proposed that the leaders jointly issue a press statement to support the laid down procedures embarked upon to evaluate the allegations against the President of the Bank.

Just as the Nigerian government, Obasanjo went further to highlight Adesina’s achievements as president of AfDB since May 2015 when he assumed leadership.

In a letter dated May 26, Obasanjo disclosed that the bank, under Adesina, “has been actively positioned as an effective global institution ranked fourth globally in terms of transparency among 45 multilateral and bilateral institutions.”

“As Africa faces COVID-19, Dr Adesina again took bold measures to ensure the bank can respond proactively to support African countries and got its board of directors to approve a $10 billion crisis response facility to support African countries,” Mr Obasanjo said. “In addition, the bank successful launched a $53 billion ‘Fight COVID-19’ social impact bond on the international capital market, secured at 0.75 per cent interest rate.”

He said the AfDB’s outstanding achievement “made all the heads of state and governments of ECOWAS region to endorse him for second term.”

Obasanjo said despite the great feat, “the United States Government, through the U.S.Treasury Secretary, has written a public letter (that was also distributed to the press globally) to disagree with the conclusions of the ethics committee of the board of directors and the chairman of the board of governors of the bank.”

In their response, the Africa Leaders under the aegis of Concerned African Leaders, released a statement titled Leadership of the African Development Bank: A Need for Caution, hours later, announcing their solidarity with the AfDB President, stating inter alia:

“The African Development Bank is a pride for all of Africa, and its President, Dr. Adesina, has taken the Bank to enviable heights. At this critical time that Africa is battling with COVID-19, the Bank and its President should not be distracted.”

The African leaders took a solid jab at the American government, saying that “No nation, regardless of how powerful, has veto power over the AfDB, and no nation should have such power.”

They further declared that “Differences will always occur but we urge that all stakeholders work together. All concerned stakeholders should work with mutual respect, and honour the rules and procedures of the bank and its governance systems that have served it well for 56 years.

Stakeholders have held that the outcome of the investigation did not suit the expectations of the U.S., which bothers on removing the Bank’s President, and so it sought to undermine Adesina’s leadership, and possibly find an excuse to exit from the Bank as a shareholder. By this, they hope to cripple the institution financially, and subsequently become the dominant development power on the continent. Unconfirmed source added however, that with DFC and the World Bank firmly under its control, the U.S. seeks to dominate Africa economically. All these, it is alleged the US cannot achieve under the leadership of Adesina, who is believed an unapologetic pan-Africanist without the patience to bow to the whims and caprices of a dominating foreign power on matters relating to African development.

Stakeholders attempted to aggregate what could possibly be Adesina’s other offences against the powerful US:

“In 2019, he successfully led the Bank’s shareholder General Capital Increase from $93 billion to $208 billion. In the process, he became the first Bank President to take the risk of championing a case for increasing capital for Africa’s development during a first term in office. It was a gambit that paid off in spite of initial strong American opposition.

“In 2018, Adesina championed and helped create the Bank-sponsored Africa Investment Forum which in 2018 and 2019 attracted more than $80 billion in infrastructure investment interests into the continent. This was an unprecedented initiative. The U.S. representative was said to have considered the Forum a departure from the Bank’s original mandate. Some also saw this as an attempt by Adesina to help wean African nations off a dependency on foreign aid. Some critics also suggested that Adesina was attempting to burnish his credentials among African Heads of State via the investment forum.

“Nigeria is the Bank’s largest shareholder, followed by Egypt, Germany, and the United States. In 2019, an OpEd believed to have been crafted by the American Executive Director (Stephen Dowd), appeared in an American newspaper – The Hill. Among other things it questioned why the U.S. (as the second largest non-regional shareholder and the 4th largest shareholder after Nigeria, Egypt, and Germany), did not have veto power at the African Development Bank.

The U.S. Treasury Department has not taken kindly to the fact Adesina has not publicly spoken against China’s increasing economic dominance in Africa. Instead, he has framed his economic argument as follows – “Do not be overly concerned about China’s presence in Africa economically. Be more concerned about America’s absence.”

But, in a twist of fate, the Board of Governors of the African Development (AfDB) through its chair, Madame Niale Kaba, maintained that the Board had not taken any fresh decision on Adesina as falsely reported in the media.

“I must emphasize that there is no governance or constitutional crisis at the African Development Bank Group. It is indeed false that the President of the Bank Group has been or is being asked to step down from his position.

“Everyone must allow the Bureau to do its work and allow due process to reign. All the Governors will be carried along in resolving the issue”, Kaba assured.

While the world watches to see how the African continent tackles the economically strong United States, it is imperative to note that what the African leaders decide and what they allow could very well determine the future of Adewunmi Adesina, the African Development Bank and the future of Africa’s development.

And like Adesina himself puts it: “I will stay calm and resolute. I will not be distracted. No amount of lies can ever cover up the truth. Soon the truth will come out,” he said.

THE CHARGES AGAINST ADESINA AND HIS RESPONSES TO THEM

Reproduced below are 15 of the 16 allegations leveled against the President of the African Development Bank, Mr. Adewunmi Adesina, and how he tried to the best of his abilities to give honest answers to each of them. The first allegation is not stated as it was not available.

Adesina, in a memorandum that highlighted his responses to all the allegations said the petitioners were not acting in good faith, as a group of independent Bank staff members who confessed to being former members of the “Group of Concerned Staff Members,” wrote a “Disassociation Note” on March 9, 2020.

He said the document provided “specific facts” to show the allegations did not meet the standards to merit as a ‘whistle-blower complaint under the terms spelt out in the Bank’s Whistleblowing and Complaints Handling Policy of January 2007.’

Allegation No. 2: Appointment of Mrs Chinelo ANOHU-AMAZU

ADESINA: Ms Chinelo Anohu-AMAZU was recruited through a globally advertised, open and competitive recruitment process. The search process was carried out by a top notch external recruitment firm, Russell Reynolds of the UK. She was one of two top candidates (both women) recommended to me as President to consider for appointment by the panel. But, I can state categorically that the allegations made against her are untrue and defamatory.

Allegation No 3: Appointment and promotions of Martin FREGENE

ADESINA: Mr Fregene is NOT my brother-in-law. There is no evidence he is. Second, Mr Fregene is a world-class geneticist, internationally renowned for his work on plant genetics of cassava, and who worked earlier at CIAT, Colombia, one of the CGIAR centres, and subsequently as Director at the Danforth Plant Science Centre (probably the second largest private agricultural research centres in the United States).

He returned from the diaspora to Nigeria to work as Chief Technical Advisor when I was Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria. He was hired as a consultant by the Bank Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Jennifer Blake, to support her in the development of the Bank’s Feed Africa strategy. I approved the recommended hire which was entirely within my power to do.

Allegation No. 4: Mismanagement of the TAAT programme

ADESINA: Allegations against me concerning the TAAT are belied by objective and solid facts demonstrating no violation by me of the Code of Conduct.

TAAT is an initiative of the Bank developed to help take agricultural technologies to the scale of millions of farmers across Africa.

Although some staff made some mistakes in the procurement process, this is being investigated by the Bank and no findings have been made yet. There was no impropriety.

The president does not get involved in contractual issues in the Bank, except in cases involving matters that may affect the image, reputation and interests of the Bank.

Allegation No. 5: Appointments and promotions of Mrs Maria MULUNDI

ADESINA: Ms Maria Mulindi worked with me prior to joining the Bank. She was part of my transition management team as I prepared to take office at the Bank following my election as President, and she very ably led all engagements with the Bank with my transition team. All Presidents of the Bank are allowed to bring in and appoint their own Chief of Staff and advisers, to help them to implement their mandate.

Allegation No 6: Direct contracting and appointment of Victor OLADOKUN

ADESINA: We went to the university together and have been very close friends since then. There is nothing in the Bank rules that says that being a friend of anyone in the Bank who gets recruited at the Bank is against Bank rules.

Allegation No. 7: Contracting of Kapil KAPOOR

ADESINA: The African Development Bank, under my chairmanship of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) Heads, was tasked to help further develop my proposal to the group on how we can work collectively to leverage global institutional investors to invest in infrastructure and other sectors.

Kapil Kapoor, who was previously the Director of Strategy and Policies of the Bank, prior to his appointment as the Director General for Southern Africa, had been leading this work working closely with all other MDBs.

Kapil was essentially doing this work on top of his regular work as Director General. He retired from the Bank at the end of August 2019.

Allegation No. 8: Appointment of Emmanuel EZINWA:

ADESINA: The allegation that “A Nigerian, Mr EZINWA was found guilty of sexually harassing a colleague during his probation period; and despite his misconduct, (I) requested that Mr. EZINWA’s contract be confirmed, thus forcing the HR Director, Mrs Frauke HARNISCHFEGER resign is false.

The truth is that I do not know Mr EZINWA and have never met him in the Bank. The President does not get involved in any staff appraisals except for Vice Presidents and direct reports.

The then HR Director, Mr. David Ssegawa, evaluated the staff and there was nothing about sexual harassment.

Mrs Frauke HARNISCHFEGER was not the HR Director in 2018. The HR Director in 2018 was Mr David Ssegawa, who evaluated the staff and recommended the staff, as per the standard procedures of the Bank, to the President. Ms HARNISCHFEGER joined the Bank in 2019, one year after a confirmation recommendation made by the predecessor HR Director.

Allegation No 9: Preferential treatment for Nigeria and Nigerians

ADESINA: I did not introduce an organisational chart with a Nigeria Country Directorate. The decision to open a Nigeria Country Directorate was taken by the Board of Directors under my predecessor, the former President of the Bank, Donald Kaberuka.

Allegation No 10: Awards received by the President and costs borne by the Bank

ADESINA: I received the World Food Prize ($250,000) and the Sunhak Peace Prize ($500,000) in recognition of a life of accomplishments in the field of agriculture. Although they were individual prizes, they brought great credit and prestige to the AfDB.

I brought further credit to myself and the Bank by donating these two cash awards for the establishment of the World Hunger Fighters Foundation, a foundation that has garnered contributions from others and now funds the Borlaug Adesina Fellows Fellowship for young African Agribusiness Innovators.

The expenses of the World Food Prize event, including musical entertainment (musical groups from Nigeria and the Glee Club from Purdue University (my alma mater) were defrayed by the World Food Prize Foundation.

Allegation 11: Settlements for staff separations

ADESINA: The allegation that somehow the former Chief Economist, Mr Celestine Monga, departed the Bank with improper payments is false. The Chief Economist was not dismissed. Contract non-renewal is not dismissal of staff.

Allegation 12: Resignation of Mr David SSEGAWA

ADESINA: Mr Ssegawa was the HR Director. It is not true that I, as President, allowed him to resign when there was an investigation. There was absolutely no investigation of David Ssegawa when he resigned, nor was one contemplated.

Allegation No 13: Resignation of Mr Michel-Cyr DJIENA-WEMBOU

ADESINA: The allegation that I allowed the country manager to resign when he was under investigation for corruption is false. The President does not run country offices. They are under a Director General and overall oversight of a Vice President.

Allegation No. 14: Appointment of Mr Charles LUFUMPA as acting VP and Chief Economist

ADESINA: The allegations against me over the appointment of Charles Lufumpa as Acting Vice President and Chief Economist are patently false. My conclusion after careful review of the case of Charles Lufumpa is that the investigations conducted were very faulty and cannot prove the allegations made against him. My review also showed a well-orchestrated effort to make Mr Lufumpa a scapegoat for failures of others to do their job.

Allegation No. 15: Disregard of rules concerning leave of absence of VPs or travel of management.

ADESINA: The President does not monitor or manage time off for staff as that’s done by the Human Resources. The truth is the Vice President had personal medical issues that he had to get attended to (his private life must be respected) that required him to be away for extended periods, as needed, and he travelled with full knowledge of the department of health of the Bank which was monitoring him while away on medical reasons.

Allegation No 16: Political lobbying of Heads of State

ADESINA: It is alleged that as President I basically bribed and corrupted the 16 African Heads of State and governments in the ECOWAS region to support my candidacy for re-election.

The allegation essentially impugns the integrity, leadership and honesty of 16 African presidents and ECOWAS. This is a fanciful and baseless allegation.

Summary

In summary, every single one of the 16 allegations against me in the Disclosure remains unsubstantiated. I have not violated the Code of Conduct. The Ethics Committee should so find and dismiss the matter.