Femi Adesina, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari has recounted the victorious battle his boss won against one of Nigeria’s most revered leaders, Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo.
Buhari’s media aide disclosed the re-emergence of Akinwumi Adesina as African Development Bank President (AfDB) was a tough victory due to the powerful influence of United States who initially levelled 16 allegations of unethical practices against him.
The Presidential aide further likened Adesina’s re-election despite US probe to Buhari looking Obasanjo straight in the eye and not suffer a political setback.
Obasanjo who is a former President is known to wield enormous influence in Nigeria’s politics. Many politicians are known to curry his favour to achieve victory in their aspirations.
However, Femi Adesina implied only Buhari has the gut and grits to challenge the former President and still lead Nigeria a second time after his re-election in March 2019.
The Presidential aide made this known on his Facebook wall. He wrote;
“If America and some other world powers come after you, you have every right to shiver in the broiling sun. It’s like Chief Olusegun Obasanjo telling you to dismount from the horse of leadership in Nigeria. Only a Muhammadu Buhari can look him straight in the eyes and say: No sir and survive it.
“Akinwumi Adesina fought the good fight for the AfDB diadem, won in brilliant fashion, and is already inaugurated for a second term in office. But it was not by a sudden flight. It took grit, guts and God.
“As elections approached, America suddenly decided it didn’t want Adesina as President again. It told him to get off the horse. Different things began to happen.
“First, some whistleblowers leveled 16 allegations of unethical practices against the AfDB President. A panel was set up to probe him. Adesina wrote his defense in 250 pages. Not a line of it was faulted, and he was exonerated by the Board of Governors of the Bank.
“America kicked. It called for an independent, external party to look into the findings of the panel. It was done, and Adesina came forth shining as gold again.
“In the middle of the battle, indeed, when it was at its fiercest, and the continent and the rest of the world were under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, President Buhari sent a presidential jet to fetch his illustrious citizen home.
“That day, I was in attendance as Dr Adesina briefed the President. It was a full brief, with many different scenarios of how, why, when, where, painted. At the end, he asked for the support of his home country, as the election approached.
“It was pin drop silence in the Diplomatic Room of the PresidentialVilla as Buhari responded. He recalled that the election for first term had been on May 28, 2015, a day before he got inaugurated into office in his first term.
” ‘You were a Minister under the government of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and I am of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but I didn’t because of that withhold support from you. As President-elect, I had written all African Presidents to support you in the election, they did, and you won.
” ‘I’ll remain consistent because no one has faulted the step I took on behalf of Nigeria.’
“And on August 27, the chicken came home to roost. The 81 member countries who constitute the bank returned Adesina, in what now goes into history as landmark in the 56 years history of the bank”.