A former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has accused the United States of hatching plans to take over the African Development Bank (AfBD). 

This is coming after a call by the US Treasury Secretary for a new probe of AfDB’s president, Akinwumi Adesina.

Obasanjo said this in a letter he addressed to 13 former African leaders, seeking a joint effort of the continental leaders to defend the Bank.

In the letter dated May 26 but sighted by Galaxy News on Thursday, Obasanjo expressed worry that despite Adesina’s performance at the Bank, there were plots to frustrate his re-election slated for August this year.

Obasanjo noted that failure to defend the African Development Bank might mean the end of the African Development Bank, as its governance will be hijacked away from Africa.

He said the call for an independent investigation was outside of the rules, laws, procedures and governance systems of the Bank.

Speaking on the achievements of Adesina as the president of the bank, Obasanjo said, Adesina led the Bank to achieve a historic general capital increase, raising the capital of the Bank from $93 billion to $208 billion, an increase of $155 billion, the highest in the history of the Bank since its establishment in 1964.

The former president emphasized that the Bank has been effectively positioned as an effective global institution, ranked 4th globally in terms of transparency among 45 multilateral and bilateral institutions by Publish What You Fund, an outfit that consists of 19 developed economies.