By Eshioromeh Sebastian
The Anambra State Government has released certified records from the Debt Management Office (DMO) and a bank statement to counter former Governor Peter Obi’s claims that he left no debts behind when he left office in 2014, escalating a bitter dispute over the state’s financial legacy.
In a statement titled “Gov Peter Obi and Record of Public Debt in Anambra: Facts Beyond Propaganda and Lies,” signed by the Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, the state government said it was compelled to respond after Obi made what it described as “wild, and verifiably false claims” on social media.
The statement, obtained by Spear News Nigeria, laid out what the government called four key facts challenging Obi’s account.
External Loans Left Behind
According to the government, as of the date Obi left office on March 17, 2014, there were eight different external borrowings left for his successors. As of June 30, 2026, the total balance of those loans stood at N127.4 billion at the official exchange rate, the government said, citing DMO records.
The loans listed included the Malaria Control Booster Project (signed May 2007), Third National Fadama Development Project (August 2009), Health System Development Project II (August 2009), Malaria Control Booster Project Additional Financing (December 2009), State Education Programme Investment Project (July 2013), Community and Social Development Project (March 2009), Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (July 2013), and Value Chain Development Project (July 2013).
The government said the original loan amounts totaled approximately $123.77 billion, with an outstanding balance of $92.35 billion as of June 2026, translating to N127.37 billion.
“Evidently, HE Peter Obi borrowed for malaria, erosion control, education, healthcare, etc.,” the statement said. “So far, this government pays hundreds of millions of Naira every month to service these debts and we are not complaining.”
The N2.13bn Ecological Fund Dispute
The government directly challenged Obi’s claim that he left over N2.13 billion in a First Bank account at the UNIZIK Branch, Awka, for erosion control.
According to the government, a certified printout of the account — numbered 2018779464 — obtained from inception to date showed that the account is an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Consolidated Revenue Account, not an ecological fund account.
“From 2011 when the account was opened until date, there has never been any such amount — whether as inflow or balance — in the account,” the statement said.
The government called on Obi to explain where the money was kept, stating: “Since HE Peter Obi raised the issue and admitted that his government received such an amount and it is evident that no such an 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?”
Unpaid Salaries and Pensions
The government also disputed Obi’s claim that he cleared all inherited arrears of pensions, salaries, and gratuities, calling the assertion “patently false.”
According to the statement, the current administration under Governor Chukwuma Soludo has cleared about N22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears of retired state and local government employees and teachers. However, the government said legacy arrears remain from Obi’s time.
Specifically, the government cited salary arrears owed to staff of the defunct Water Corporation that lingered throughout Obi’s tenure, culminating in court processes and judgments. The Soludo administration, according to the statement, negotiated a settlement and has already paid the first two of three agreed instalment payments.
Additionally, the government said Obi’s administration verified and certified 16 months of salary arrears for primary school teachers under the local government system dating back to the Mbadinuju era. However, the statement said, Obi’s government “only paid five months and no more until today.”
“So, Your Excellency, you owed salaries, pensions and gratuities. Many of these people are still alive and can testify,” the statement said. “It is not good to speak loudly without facts or with fabricated figures.”
The N75bn Savings Claim
The government also dismissed Obi’s long-standing claim that he left over N75 billion in savings, saying: “We will not engage in nebulous creative accounting that generated the phantom N75 billion ‘savings’ or ‘investment’ which the previous administration has vigorously disputed.”
Obi’s Challenge
The government’s statement followed a personally signed response from Obi on Tuesday, in which he rejected the debt claims and issued a dramatic challenge.
“If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning,” Obi said.
Obi maintained that his administration liquidated historical gratuities and arrears exceeding N35 billion and that “at the point of handover, the state owed nothing in salaries, gratuities, or pensions, nor did we owe anything to any contractor for projects duly executed and certified.”
Regarding the ecological fund, Obi insisted the money was released about three months before the end of his tenure for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis and was left “100 per cent intact in First Bank, in Account No. 2018779464, with a balance of over N2.13 billion.”
Background
The dispute traces back to comments by Anambra’s Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, during a podcast appearance last week. Okafor said the Soludo administration has been servicing loans inherited from previous administrations, including those of Obi and his successor, Willie Obiano, through deductions from the state’s monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations.
Okafor also claimed the Soludo administration has reduced the state’s debt burden by more than 83 percent and has not borrowed from any commercial bank since taking office in 2022.
Obi governed Anambra State from 2006 to 2014, handing over to Willie Obiano, who served until 2022 when Soludo took office. The financial legacy of Obi’s tenure has been a subject of dispute across three successive administrations, with Obi consistently maintaining he left the state financially sound and with substantial reserves.
The renewed controversy comes amid heightened political activity ahead of the 2027 general elections, in which Obi is expected to be a prominent candidate. A civil society group, the Centre for Human Rights Advocacy and Wholesome Society, has called on the Anambra government to publish a facility-by-facility debt schedule to allow for independent verification of the competing claims.
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