The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, has explained why he cannot abandon AfDB and run for Nigeria’s presidency in 2023.
Adesina stated this in a statement personally signed by him and made available to journalists on Tuesday.
The statement is titled, ‘Statement by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank.
Theideal recalls that some groups had reportedly purchased and submitted the N100million nomination forms of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on behalf of the AfDB president.
But Adesina has disclosed that his current responsibility as the AfDB’s president did not allow him to contest for the Nigeria’s presidency in 2023.
He ,however, thanked the groups for believing in him, saying that he was humbled by their love and implicit confidence in him, asking him to run for the 2023 presidency.
The statement reads in part , “I have been extremely humbled by several calls from Nigerians at home and abroad that I should consider running for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“I am very touched by all who have gone to great extent, with such huge sacrifices, of their own volition, to consider me worthy to be proposed for potential consideration.
“The coalition groups of youth, women, farmers, physically challenged and well-meaning Nigerians that have done this have expressed their genuine free will, political right, freedom of expression and association for my consideration, with the interest of Nigeria at heart.
“While I am deeply honoured, humbled and grateful for all the incredible goodwill, kindness, and confidence, my current responsibilities at this time do not allow me to accept to be considered.
“I remain fully engaged and committed to the mission that Nigeria, Africa and all the non-African shareholders of the African Development Bank have given me for Africa’s development.
“I remain fully focused on the mission of supporting the accelerated development and economic integration of Africa.”
It is instructive to note that the AfDB’s regulations also bar its President from engaging in partisan politics.
Paragraph 2 of Article 38 of the agreement establishing AfDB, titled ‘Prohibition of Political Activity; the International Character of the Bank’, states that “The Bank, its President, Vice Presidents, officers and staff shall not interfere in the political affairs of any member (country); nor shall they be influenced in their decisions by the political character of the member (country) concerned.”
Paragraph 3 of the article further states that “The President, Vice Presidents, officers and staff of the Bank, in discharge of their offices, owe their duty entirely to the Bank and to no other authority.”
Besides, the AfDB code of conduct bars its executive from partisan politics. Section 10 of the Code also states that : “Although Executive Directors are elected representatives of governments from their constituencies, they shall during their tenure of office as executive directors refrain from participating in active politics in their home countries or elsewhere.”
