Dr Akinwumi Adesina of Nigeria is new AfDB President

After a tense day of voting and expectations at the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast a new President has been elected to take over from Dr. Donald Kaberuka when his term ends on August 31, 2015.

On September 1, 2015, Dr. Kaberuka will handover to Dr Akinwumi Adesina. He becomes the eighth president of the Bank. He is Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture.

The voting opened with eight candidates contesting.

They are; Sufian Ahmed of Ethiopia, Dr. Cristina Duarte of Cape Verde, Dr Samura Kamara of Sierra Leone, Dr Akinwumi Adesina of Nigeria, Mr Jalloul Ayed of Tunisia, Dr Kordjé Bédoumra of Chad, Mr Birama Boubacar Sidibe of Mali and Thomas Z. Sakala of Zimbabwe.

The first to lose out when the voting started was Sierra Leonean, Samura Kamara, Ethiopian Sufian Ahmed lost in the next round, followed by Malian, Birama Boubacar Sidibe. Tunisian candidate, Jaloul Ayed followed, leaving four candidates in the race.

The biggest surprise of the day was the elimination of Zimbabwean candidate, Sakala Zondo, a former Vice-President of the Bank, leaving three candidates; Nigeria, Chad and Cape Verde.

When it was finally decided, it was Dr Akinwumi Adesina who will serve a first five-year term with a possibility for a renewal for another five years.

After six rounds of voting he won with 58.10 percent of total votes cast and regional votes of 60.5 percent. Chadian, Dr Kordjé Bédoumra came second with 31.62 percent of total votes cast and 36.63 percent of regional votes. Third placed Dr. Cristina Duarte of Cape Verde received 10.27 of total votes cast and 2.87 percent of regional votes.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast