The House of Representatives has frowned at alleged witchhunt and unnecessary harassment of Dr Adesina Akinwunmi aimed at stopping him from seeking a second term in office as the President of the African Development Bank (AFDB).
Adopting a motion sponsored by the House Minority leader, Mr Ndudi Elumelu under matters of urgent importance, at plenary Presided by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, the House urged the board of AFDB to halt further harassment of the President of AFDB.
The House mandated the Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS) parliament and pan African parliament to investigate the matter and resolve same and thereafter report to the house within reasonable time.
The House further urged the FGN to also call on all African leaders to intervene.
Moving the motion, Elumelu expressed concern over alleged attempt to tarnish the image and hard earned reputation of Adesina on trumped-up charges in spite the fact that he had steered the organization in a transparent and impactful manner within the last five years.
He recalled that recently a group of whistleblowers petitioned Adesina accusing him of 16 breaches of the banks code of conduct, some of which includes private gains, impediments to efficiency, preferential treatment and involvement in political activities, which he has continued to deny and found to be frivolous, unsubstantiated, lacking in merit .
He said it remains worrisome that though the ethic committee of the board of directors followed the established law governing AFDB in arriving at their decision in absolving Dr Adesina of the allegations, the United states treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin in a letter to the chairperson of the bank, Niale Koba, rejected the verdict of the committee and called for an independent investigation into the allegations against Dr Adesina, whose tenure is due for renewal given the fact that he is the only contender to the office.
The lawmaker contended that such interference portends a grave danger to the independence and laws governing the establishment of AFDB and if not addressed will be tantamount to undermining the hard earned reputation of the bank.
He warned that if this sort of witchhunt and unnecessary harassment is not put to check and discouraged, it may become a recurring decimal thereby destabilizing the stability the bank has enjoyed for decades and the intended results on a steady decrease.
He added: “We are troubled that this action may be an attempt to discredit Adesina from seeking another term at the helm of Africa’s largest multilateral lender, former African leaders in their wisdom led by former president olusegun Obasanjo and signed by 11other former African head of states and endorsed by 4 former African leaders issued a press statement showing the grave danger it portends to disregard the laws governing an institution such as the AFDB as well stating in clear terms that no nation no matter how powerful has a veto power over the African Development Bank.
