Aniefiok Christopher
The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi is in political storm as Anambra State Government raised weighty allegations against him, saying that his administration left unpaid loans from eight different external borrowings as of the time he left office.
Obi served as the Anambra governor from 17 March 2006 until his impeachment on 2 November 2006. He was reinstated on 9 February 2007, he continued his tenure until 2010 when he was re-elected for a second term which ended on 7 March 2014
The Anambra Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Dr Law Mefor, stated this in a press statement in Awka on Wednesday, noted that as of June 30, 2026, the total balance of such loans left by Obi at the official exchange rate stood at N127.4 billion.
Mefor, while responding to claims Obi made that he did not leave any unpaid loan in the state, said the state summarised the latest report from the Debt Management Office on Anambra’s debt status (as of June 2026), indicating the dates the loans were signed and the balance remaining.
He explained that, from the evidence, Obi borrowed for malaria, erosion control, education, healthcare, etc and so far, the current government was repaying hundreds of millions of naira every month to service these debts, though it said it was not complaining.
The Commissioner added that the clarification became necessary to set the record straight.
I owed no one in pensions, salaries or contract jobs done – Obi
Recall that Obi had challenged the earlier claims of “unpaid loans” by the Anambra State Government on his record while in office, insisting he owed no one in pensions, salaries or contract jobs done.
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He also challenged that if there are proofs, he will stop campaigning.
The NDC presidential candidate also rejected claims by the Anambra State Government that his administration left behind inherited debts, including a N2bn ecological loan, contractor liabilities and unpaid salaries, gratuities and pensions.
Obi, in a statement on X on Tuesday, described the claims as “completely false,” saying his administration had cleared more than N35bn in historical gratuities and arrears and handed over the state without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity obligations.
He said, “We systematically liquidated historical gratuities and arrears dating back several years, amounting to over N35bn.
“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,” he added.
Specifically, Obi disputed the claim concerning the N2bn ecological fund, explaining that the money was released shortly before he left office for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.
According to Obi, the money was left untouched in a First Bank account in UNIZIK, Awka Branch.
He also vowed to quit the 2027 presidential race if the state government showed evidence that he left debts or owed any contractor.
Governor Otti supports Obi
However, Abia State Governor Alex Otti has backed Peter Obi’s claim that he left substantial funds behind after leaving office as Anambra State Governor in 2014.
But reacting to Obi’s claims in the series of documents, Mefor said Obi owed verified salaries, gratuity, and pension to retired teachers and staff of the water corporation, adding that the former governor left a state without any functioning urban or rural water schemes; increasing insecurity and increased poverty, ostensibly dead public schools and dead public hospitals with grossly inadequate teachers and medical personnel.
On the ecological funds, Mefor said Obi blatantly lied about any ecological fund account or deposit with the First Bank of Nigeria, UNIZIK branch, Awka, and wondered how the former governor invented the N2 billion ecological fund matter and went ahead to fabricate lies about it.
Mefor insisted that the account in question is an “Internally Generated Revenue – Consolidated Revenue Account”, and not an ecological fund account as claimed by Obi, adding that from 2011, when the account was opened to date, there has never been any such amount, whether as inflow or balance, in the account.
The document was titled, ‘Gov Peter Obi and Record of Public Debt in Anambra: Facts Beyond Propaganda and Lies.’’
It read, “Our attention has been drawn to a viral post by a former Governor of Anambra, HE Mr Peter Obi, CON, on what he described as ‘Phantom Debts and Ecological Loan Fallacy’, which presumably was in response to some statements in a podcast by the Anambra State Commissioner for Finance.
“We understand that this is a campaign season and candidates often go to the extremes to impress. If not for the fact that the said post was on his personal handle, we would not have believed that he could have made such wild and verifiably false claims.
“As a government, we are focused 100 per cent on delivering dividends of democracy to millions of Ndi Anambra. However, when a former governor of the state makes some outlandish claims about the state of public debt he left behind, and especially when the present government has been spending billions of Naira servicing the same debt, a responsible government owes the public a response in the interest of transparency and accountability.
“We have no time to join issues. We will simply state the facts here for the record, and they are:
“Fact 1: HE Peter Obi Spent about $4.05 billion (equivalent to N5.4 trillion at the current exchange rate) in eight years and also contracted $123.77 million in external debt alone, for which our government has so far paid billions of Naira in service payments.
“Fact 2: As of the date HE Peter Obi left office (17th March 2014), there were and still are eight different external borrowings his administration left for his successors.
“As of June 30, 2026, the total balance of such loans left by HE Peter Obi at the official exchange rate stood at N127.4 billion. Here we summarise the latest report from the Debt Management Office on Anambra’s debt status (as of June 2026), indicating the dates the loans were signed and the balance remaining.
“Fact No. 3: HE Peter Obi owed verified salaries, gratuity, and pension to retired teachers and staff of Water Corporation
Fact No.4: HE Peter Obi blatantly lied about any Ecological Fund account or deposit with the First Bank of Nigeria, UNIZIK branch, Awka. In the podcast by the Commissioner for Finance, he never mentioned any N2bn ecological fund loan. The video is there. Where did HE Peter Obi invent the N2bn ecological fund matter and go ahead to fabricate lies about it?”
Reacting to Obi’s claim on clearing all inherited arrears of pensions, salaries and gratuities, the government said, “HE Peter Obi made very strong statements about clearing all inherited arrears of pensions, salaries and gratuities. That claim is patently false. We do not want to get into the debate between him and his predecessors regarding which arrears were paid by them or by him.
“Our administration has cleared about N22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears of retired state and local government employees and teachers. However, there are still legacy arrears which have lingered since the time of HE Peter Obi.
“First, there are arrears of salaries to staff of defunct Water Corporation, which lingered throughout Peter Obi’s tenure, culminating in court processes and judgments. It is this administration that has negotiated a settlement and already paid the first two instalments of the agreed three instalment payments.
“Second, there are arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities owed to primary school teachers under the local government system during Gov Mbadinuju’s tenure.
“The attention of our administration has recently been drawn to these lingering arrears. We have been informed that the government of Peter Obi verified and certified the debt of 16 months of salary arrears and agreed to pay in tranches.
“It only paid five months and no more until today. This administration has set up a committee headed by the Head of Service to finalise a new verification for us to pay.
“So, Your Excellency Peter Obi, you owed salaries, pensions and gratuities. Many of these people are still alive and can testify. It is not good to speak loudly without facts or with fabricated figures.
“How can you say that if we show one person that you owed, you will quit your 2027 presidential campaign? No, we don’t want you to quit, and we wish you well. But you obviously lied: you owed many, not one, and those debts are yet to be fully cleared even today.”
The statement continued, “HE Peter Obi wrote without any equivocation that as at the date he left office, March 17, 2014, he left the ‘balance of over N2.13 billion in a First Bank Account No.2018779464, UNIZIK branch, Awka’. He subsequently charged that if the claim is found to be false, he ‘would stop campaigning’.
“Well, we have obtained a certified printout of the said account from inception to date. First, the account is an Internally Generated Revenue – Consolidated Revenue Account, and not an ecological fund account. Second, from 2011, when the account was opened to date, there has never been any such amount—whether as inflow or balance—in the account.
“Since 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 Peter Obi to tell us where exactly his government kept the money or is the money missing?
“There must be something about this N2.13bn that he should bring up even when it was never mentioned by the Hon. Commissioner. Curious!”
According to him, the issue was not whether or not borrowing is good, as no business or government can scale significantly without some debt.
He added, “Yes, we converted the audited and published expenditures using the average official exchange rates during the eight years of HE Peter Obi, and they sum to about US$4.05 billion.
“At the current official exchange rate, it would sum to about N5.4 trillion, and he surely governed to the best of his ability. Of course, no government will ever finish the work of development.
“We are convinced that many Ndi Anambra would not have minded if HE Peter Obi had borrowed to fix public schools and hospitals, water schemes, infrastructure, or even to reduce poverty and insecurity.
“Debt, especially for bankable projects and human capital development, is justifiable. So, HE Peter Obi should stop being irked as if all debt is bad.
“Finally, we do not wish to be drawn into the nebulous creative accounting that generated the phantom N75 billion ‘savings’ or ‘investment’ which the previous administration has vigorously disputed.”
When contacted, Obi’s camp said it was focused on responding to the substantive issues raised by the Anambra State Government.
The camp also described the Presidency as a “meddlesome interloper” for wading into the controversy over the financial liabilities allegedly left behind by Obi’s administration in Anambra State.
Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri Jnr, in an exclusive phone interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday, said a team of former officials who worked with Obi as governor was preparing a detailed response to the claims made by the Anambra State Government.
The development followed the intervention of the Presidency in the dispute after the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, challenged Obi to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race if his claim that he left Anambra without outstanding debts was disproved.
Onanuga wrote on X, “Peter Obi claimed he left Anambra with a clean slate of debt and even threatened to quit the presidential race if his claims were proven otherwise.”
He added, “Now, the Anambra government has confronted him with facts and figures showing he owed Water Corporation workers, teachers, and pension and gratuities, and had also borrowed for frivolous things.
“The ball is back in his court. Will he follow through on his threat by quitting the race?” he asked.
Reacting, Zekeri said, “As for the Presidency, they are meddlesome interloper. So, we don’t bother ourselves with them, especially Bayo Onanuga who you referenced. They are just nothing but meddlesome interlopers.”
He said the response being prepared by members of Obi’s former administration would address the issues raised by the state government.
“Concerning the issue raised by the Anambra State government, our team, especially the one that worked with Obi when he was governor, is putting up a detailed reply.
“You will get it as soon as it is ready. This is not a campaign matter. It is a governance issue, and it is going to be addressed. I can assure you that it is nothing to worry about.”
