The Bureau of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has not taken any decision asking the president of the institution, Akinwumi Adesina, to resign as reported in some media, says its President Kaba Nialé, in a note.

"Under no circumstances has the President of the Bank Group been asked to resign," said Ms. Kaba Nialé in a communication on the handling of the whistleblower complaint against the President of the AfDB Group, Adesina Akinwumi.

The Ivorian Minister of Planning and Development, Kaba Nialé, who chairs the Board of Governors, stresses that "there is no institutional crisis within the African Development Bank Group", an institution headquartered in Abidjan.

Accused by a fringe of the staff of the African Development Bank (AfDB) of favoritism for the benefit of his compatriots, according to the French newspaper Le Monde, Adesina Akinwumi, president of the institution, had qualified this as "allegations", in a statement.

The suspicions also relate to cases of "violation of the code of conduct" and "hindering the effectiveness (...) affecting confidence in the integrity" of the African Development Bank, continues in its writings the newspaper Le Monde.

The Ethics Committee of the Bank's Board of Directors conducted an internal investigation and issued its decision in a report, where it mentions that the governance acts of the AfDB President do not damage the credibility of the institution and do not present internal threats.

On May 26, 2020, the Bureau of the Board of Governors of the AfDB Group held a meeting to review this case arising from a whistleblower complaint against the AfDB President that was handled by the Ethics Committee of the Board of Directors of the bank.

Ms. Kaba Nialé said she had "received letters from some shareholders expressing different points of view." According to sources familiar with the matter, Washington has called for an independent investigation that does not involve any internal entity in order for this case to be clarified.

"The Bureau over which I chair wishes to reassure the public that it has taken up the matter and that it is treating it with the utmost rigour and with all the seriousness it deserves. However, the office informs the public that no decision has been taken as falsely conveyed in some publications, "says Ms. Kaba Nialé.

According to the Chair of the Board of Governors of the AfDB, "everyone must allow the board to do its job and let the process of investigating this file take its course. (For) the opinion of all the governors will be sought for its proper outcome".

Following the meeting, several publications in the national and international press were brought to the attention of the Chair of the Board of Governors concerning the content of the deliberations of the said meeting. "This leads to clarifications to avoid any misunderstanding," she says.

At the head of the African Development Bank since 2015, Nigerian Akinwumi Adesina is running for a second five-year term. The election, scheduled for August 2020, could be postponed if the case does not reach an outcome before the elective General Assembly.