Some African leaders have mounted pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari to anoint President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general election, THISDAY learnt at the weekend.
A reliable source told THISDAY that leaders in West Africa, including the presidents of Niger and Côte d’Ivoire, might have spoken to Buhari on behalf of the AfDB president. The West African leaders are meeting Buhari in Abidjan on Monday and Tuesday, at a two-day conference organised by the United Nations, on the future of land, regarding desertification, drought, degradation, rights, restoration and implications for national and world economies.. Their mission? To try and persuade him to consider Adesina. This, it was gathered, was what encouraged a coalition of support groups to purchase the expression of interest and nomination forms for the president of the continental bank.
However, the coalition of support groups that purchased the presidential nomination form for President of the African Development Bank, Akinwunmi Adesina, has lamented that it has not been able to convince him to contest the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary election.
At the weekend, the coalition of 28 support groups had paid for his presidential nomination form.
While addressing journalists in Abuja, yesterday, the President of One Nigeria Group, Mohammed Saleh, said their quest to seek a solution to the myriad of challenges confronting the country informed their decision to drag him into the race.
He described Adesina as a man of proven integrity and experience, saying he performed well for Nigeria as Minister for Agriculture.
“He has solved the problems of so many farmers, created so many jobs by solving the corruption in the agricultural sector. Particularly the fertilizer, which he brought the e-wallet for fertilizer which the farmers are enjoying now, and it has created a lot of jobs,” Saleh explained.
“It has also helped millions of farmers in Nigeria, which they are still benefiting from and also as president of African Development Bank, he has brought a lot of initiatives that solve Africa’s food security problem. So, we will like him to come back home and apply it here in Nigeria.”
On how Adesina would woo delegates to vote for him, he noted that the most important thing for the group now was to get Adesina to agree to join the race.
“When we get there, we’ll cross that bridge, don’t worry about that. First and foremost, the most significant thing is for us to get him to agree and come and collect the form, sign it for us and then join the race. That is the most significant thing at the moment,” he added.
“Issues of delegates and everybody I know all Nigerians apart from not even the delegates even you, everybody in Nigeria knows that Adesina has the capacity to bring Nigeria back from the brink.”
Also, the leader and founder of the Youth Arise Movement, Babatunde Ademola, said he was one of the group leaders working tirelessly and consulting across the country and even outside the country to ensure that they get him to come and obey the clarion call.
“I will tell you significantly that we have tried to reach out to him. We have sent messages. We have not gotten any definite response from him,” explained Ademola. “We need Dr Adesina to come and solve Nigeria’s problem, and because of this, we have put our resources together.”
“It is not easy to gather N100 million, but we have ensured that we gather as many people as possible. So we are calling him to come out and accept this form from us,” he added.
“Is a gift to serve this country and solve our problems. We are calling Adesina because it’s a call to save Nigeria, and I think he is going to accept.”
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