Opinion: Scuttling Adesina’s AfDB Presidency: the Hand of Trump and the Voice of Macron?, By Simbo Olorunfemi
I have read the letters by Nigeria’s Finance minister, Zainab Ahmed, a member of the board of governors of AfDB, and that by President Olusegun Obasanjo. Good as those are, the issue sure goes beyond writing letters, as they would know. It calls for serious diplomatic legwork. The ‘I stand with Adesina’ campaign, good as it is, can only cater to the domestic audience. Not sure to what effect these and the string of articles in newspapers in Nigeria are meant to achieve.
Trump likes to have his way and loves a fight. He will back his loyalists all the way, as long as he doesn’t have anything to lose. He does not have any, in this case. Rather, this plays exactly to his hands, falling in line with his playbook. It offers another opportunity to posture as fighting against another corrupt multilateral institution, not serving American interest and not willing to accord her the respect she deserves, in spite of her ‘enormous’ contributions.
Nigeria will have to put on its thinking cap and fast too. This is not about Akinwunmi Adesina, even though some flanks might have been left inadvertently left open, allowing for penetration. But the stakes are much higher for Nigeria, Africa, AfDB and even those on the other side. This is a battle for the soul of the organisation, and by extension, Africa. It is one battle which Nigeria and Africa must win. If we lose now, we just might have lost tomorrow.
International relations is no tea-party. It is a slippery arena where you must be many steps ahead of the game. That there was an endorsement by the ECOWAS and African Union leaders on the Adesina candidacy is a good one. But it does not take much for the ball to roll away. The circumstances under which Adesina emerged as president, against the run of play, beating well-established candidates with strong backers, offers proof of that.
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