Dr Jennifer Blanke, the Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development at the African Development Bank, AfDB, has on Wednesday, resigned her position.

Blanke who joined the bank in 2017, said she is leaving purely for family reasons.

Her words: “I am leaving purely for family reasons to rejoin my family in Switzerland, after a very fulfilling time at the bank. I will miss the bank and the excellent team we have built. I will continue to strongly support the bank from wherever I am.

“I thank President Akinwumi Adesina for his strong leadership, guidance, and support which have undoubtedly motivated and helped my team and I to play a key role in the transformation of the bank.

“I feel privileged to have been given an opportunity to contribute to the bank’s agenda for accelerating Africa’s social and economic transformation.”

Recall that the U.S Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, had called for an independent probe into allegations by a group of whistleblowers against the AfDB President, Akinwumi Adesina thereby rejecting plans by the bank’s board to stop the investigation on the issue.

Adesina had long denied the allegation.

festacman:
This sudden resignation of Dr. Jennifer Blanke from her post as VP at African Development Bank (AfDB) might be indicative of US unabated interference to indict Dr. Akinwumi Adesina using independent investigators.

However, as we observe closely the unfolding events, let all Nigerians be consoled by these two beautiful quotes from Dr. Jennifer Blanke's resignation letter:

“I am leaving purely for family reasons to rejoin my family in Switzerland, after a very fulfilling time at the bank. I will miss the bank and the excellent team we have built."

“I thank President Akinwumi Adesina for his strong leadership, guidance, and support which have undoubtedly motivated and helped my team and I to play a key role in the transformation of the bank."

These words of testimonies about the leadership of Dr. Akinwumi Adesina from an American-Swiss who is a renowned and globally respected development economist, with over 20 years of experience, put a big question mark on the motive behind the effort to paint Dr. Adesina black and deny him merited 2nd term as AfDB president.