Anambra Govt: Peter Obi Lied Over Debts, Transparency—Raises Questions Over ₦127bn Obligations, ‘Missing’ ₦2bn

…He should keep his word and quit presidential race now, says Onanuga

By Jeremy Fregene
The Anambra State Government has launched a blistering attack on the financial record of former governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate Peter Obi, accusing him of making false claims about debts and liabilities allegedly left behind by his administration and raising questions over more than ₦2 billion he said was kept for an ecological project.

The controversy immediately spilled into the 2027 presidential contest, with Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, challenging Obi to honour his own declaration that he would stop campaigning if anybody established that his claims about the financial position in which he left Anambra were incorrect.

Obi had insisted that when he handed over in March 2014, his administration owed no salaries, pensions, gratuities or contractors for duly executed and certified projects.

“If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning,” Obi had declared.

But the Anambra Government, in a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, described Obi’s claims as “wild” and “verifiably false,” insisting that public records showed outstanding external loans and legacy obligations.

According to the government, eight external loans obtained during or inherited into the Obi administration still had a combined outstanding balance of $92.35 million — which it put at ₦127.37 billion as of June 30, 2026.

The loans, with an original value of about $123.77 million, were linked to malaria control, Fadama development, healthcare, education, community development, erosion control, and agricultural value-chain projects.

The state government stressed that its objection was not to borrowing itself, saying governments could legitimately take loans for productive projects.

“Evidently, HE Peter Obi borrowed for malaria, erosion control, education, healthcare, etc. So far, this government pays hundreds of millions of Naira every month to service these debts and we are not complaining,” Mefor said.

“It is good for Anambra once we can show the impacts.”

The Soludo administration also disputed Obi’s assertion that he left no salary, pension, or gratuity liabilities, saying it had cleared about ₦22 billion in gratuity arrears owed to retired state and local government employees and teachers.

It further cited outstanding salary obligations involving workers of the defunct Anambra State Water Corporation and some primary school teachers, although some of the liabilities originated before Obi became governor.

Obi, however, maintains that his administration cleared more than ₦35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears before leaving office.

The potentially more explosive dispute centres on Obi’s claim that he left more than ₦2.13 billion untouched in a First Bank account for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.

Obi identified the account and said the money had deliberately been preserved for his successor because it was earmarked for a specific ecological intervention and “government is a continuum.”

But Mefor said the state government obtained a certified statement for the account cited by Obi and found that it was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account, not an ecological fund account.

He further alleged that from 2011, when the account was opened, there had never been an inflow or balance corresponding to the ₦2.13 billion Obi said he left there.

“Since HE Peter Obi raised the issue and admitted that his government received such an amount and it is evident that no such amount ever entered into the account that he cited, it behoves on HE Peter Obi to tell us where exactly his government kept the money or is the money missing?” Mefor asked.

The state government also challenged Obi’s longstanding assertion that he left more than ₦75 billion in savings, describing the claim as “nebulous creative accounting,” although it did not provide a detailed reconciliation of the disputed ₦75 billion in its statement.

Seizing on the controversy, Onanuga said Obi had placed his own presidential ambition on the line when he challenged anyone to prove that his administration left outstanding obligations.

The presidential adviser said the Anambra Government had now confronted the former governor with figures relating to loans, Water Corporation workers, teachers, pensions and gratuities.

He consequently challenged the NDC presidential candidate to follow through on his pledge and withdraw from the 2027 contest.