By Chris Udochukwu
Abuja (Precise Post) – Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has congratulated the President of African Development Bank, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina for the outcome of investigative panel which absolved him of all corruption charges leveled against him.
Precise Post recall that on April 26, the Ethics Committee AfDB led by Takuji Yano, a Japanese, released an eight-page report on a January 19 complaint received from some members of staff of the organisation who described themselves as a Group of Indignant Staff Members, against Mr Adesina.
The document exonerated Mr Adesina and concluded that the petition received from the whistleblowers “was not based on any objective and solid fact”.
The committee explained that it reached the conclusion “with the help of information verbally communicated to the committee by the director of the Office of Integrity and Anti-Corruption (PIAC) and by the bank’s auditor general during committee meetings held on 26 March and 2 April 2020”.
The committee chairman said the whistleblowers did not provide any supporting proof of their allegations and added that when they were asked to do so they declined, arguing that doing so would compromise their anonymity.
But the United States government demanded that a fresh and in-depth investigation be conducted into the allegations against the president of the African Development Bank, Akinwunmi Adesina, using an independent investigator.
The call came after the bank’s ethics committee had cleared Mr Adesina of all allegations of wrongdoing raised by “whistle-blowers” within the organisation. Mr Adesina is the sole candidate for Bank leadership over the next five years.
The U.S., a member of the bank 1983, said in a May 22, 2020 letter to the chair of the AfDB’s board of governors, Niale Kaba, that the U.S. did not accept the decision of the ethics committee to totally exonerate Mr Adesina of all allegations, saying it was not yet time to make such a declaration.
Fani-Kayode who took to his twitter handle @realFFK to congratulate the AfDB President tweeted thus:
“I congratulate my friend & brother @akin_adesina,President of the @AfDB_Group,on being cleared of all corruption charges by the investigating panel of the @AfDB_Group. I urge him to forge ahead & do his best to win the election for a 2nd term. He has done well & he deserves it.”
