The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwunmi Adesina, has distanced himself from reports on the 2027 presidential race.
Reports in some sections of the media quoted the former minister of agriculture as saying in an interview programme on Arise Television that he would go into the ballot in the country’s next presidential election.
This is the second time in the last two years that Adesina had ruled himself out of Nigeria’s presidential race.
The 65-year-old declined entreaties from Nigerians to join the presidential race in 2023.
In a statement posted on his X handle on Thursday, the AfDB president clarified that his statements in the interview was misrepresented by the media.
He wrote: “A segment of my recent interview on @ARISEtv has been both misinterpreted and misrepresented in several Nigerian media outlets. What I said was, ‘I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country.
“A listen to the substantive and robust interview, which is available online, will show this to be the case. For clarity and for the record, I did not say that I am running for the office of President of Nigeria.”
A segment of my recent interview on @ARISEtv has been both misinterpreted and misrepresented in several Nigerian media outlets.
What I said was, "I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country."
A listen to the substantive…
— Akinwumi A. Adesina (@akin_adesina) February 13, 2025