I have read more commentaries than I can count since the Anambra State Government released a document from the Debt Management Office (DMO) showing that past administrations, including that of Peter Obi, left behind outstanding external loans. Some were thoughtful. Many were lazy. A good number were written in anger, and a few were written purely for clout. Almost none of them asked the only question that matters, which is how the truth can be established.
Such is the nature of bandwagon followership in Nigerian politics today. Once questions are raised about a politician, accountability becomes the first casualty.
I understand the emotion. Peter Obi occupies a special place in the hearts of his followers, particularly in the South-East. They perceive any question about his record as a personal attack. His supporters have invested heavily in the idea of him as the man who governed well. That investment was not irrational. Obi did leave a reputation for frugality, and for a time, Anambra was cited as a model of what disciplined governance could look like.
However, he left many questions unanswered, perhaps because he did not know any better at the time, or perhaps because there were things he would rather not have examined.
The renewed war of accountability between Soludo and Obi began when the Anambra State Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, alleged on a podcast that the Soludo administration was still servicing loans taken by past governments, including that of Peter Obi. That was the spark. Obi responded by throwing a direct challenge to Soludo, insisting that he left no debts behind and vowing to quit the 2027 presidential race if anyone could prove otherwise. He alleged that he left over N75 billion in savings and a N2.13 billion ecological fund untouched in a First Bank account for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.
Who in Soludo’s position would want to be embarrassed or silenced with such a challenge?
The government replied that the account he cited was an internally generated revenue account, not an ecological fund, and that no such balance ever existed. To make things worse for Obi, on Wednesday September 16, the government released a document from DMO to back its claims, alleging that eight external loans from the Obi era remained outstanding, with a balance of about $92.35 million as of June 2026.
As I write, Obi has not replied to Soludo. His followers have taken to social media, circulating handover notes showing what he left in government accounts across several banks. Obi himself has said nothing. He is not a man to react hastily to a public document from the DMO. He knows what it would cost him if these claims turned out to be true. He would have to give up his presidential ambition, as he had promised, and he would owe Nigerians an apology for lying to them all these years.
On the other side, the Anambra State Government had its own incentives. Governor Chukwuma Soludo did not succeed Obi. Obi handed over to Willie Obiano in 2014, and Soludo came after Obiano. But every governor has a vested interest in painting his inheritance as a mess he is cleaning up. It is the oldest trick in Nigerian politics. You come into office, you discover the books were worse than you were told, you blame your predecessor, and you buy yourself time and sympathy. Sometimes it was true. Sometimes it was convenient. Without an audit, we could not tell the difference.
That being said. But again, Soludo sits in Awka today with access to records that Obi, as governor, may never have laid eyes on. This is the part of the noise that is missing.
What Nigerians, and especially Ndi Igbo and the supporters of Peter Obi, should do is to exercise restraint. I know how difficult that was. When you believed a man had been wronged, the instinct was to fight back immediately, to match insult for insult, to flood the airwaves and social media with counter-claims. Some of Obi’s supporters did exactly that, demanding that Soludo prove his allegations or forever hold his peace. Others accused the governor of envy and bitterness, of pursuing a man who no longer belonged to his political league. But that instinct, however understandable, served nobody. And it guaranteed that the truth, whatever it was, would never be established.
Let there be an independent investigation. A credible, outside firm, given unfettered access to the Central Bank, the Debt Management Office, the Accountant-General’s records, and the state’s bank statements, with a mandate to publish its findings in full. If Obi was clean, the audit would clear him and embarrass his accusers. If he was not, the audit would settle the matter and he would answer for it. Either way, the public would get the truth.
By Emameh Gabriel
Discussion about this post