The Anambra State Government and former governor Peter Obi have traded claims over the financial obligations allegedly left behind by his administration, with the state putting the outstanding balance of eight external loans at N127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026.
The dispute followed Obi’s denial that he left unpaid debts, salaries, pensions, gratuities or liabilities to contractors when he handed over power on March 17, 2014.
Anambra Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Dr Law Mefor, said the government’s figures were based on the latest debt position attributed to the Debt Management Office.
Mefor said Obi’s administration contracted $123.77 million in external borrowing, with loans used for projects and programmes including malaria control, erosion management, education and healthcare. He said the state continues to make monthly debt-service payments.
The commissioner also disputed Obi’s account of an alleged N2.13 billion ecological fund kept in a First Bank account at the UNIZIK branch in Awka.
According to Mefor, certified records obtained for the account showed that it was an Internally Generated Revenue-Consolidated Revenue Account and not an ecological fund account. He said the account had never recorded an inflow or balance of N2.13 billion since it was opened in 2011.
The government further rejected Obi’s assertion that he had completely cleared inherited salary, pension and gratuity arrears before leaving office.
Mefor said the current administration had paid about N22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears but claimed that outstanding liabilities involving former Water Corporation workers and primary school teachers remained.
He said the government had negotiated payments to former Water Corporation workers following court processes and had paid two instalments under an agreed three-part settlement.
On primary school teachers’ arrears, the commissioner said the Obi administration had allegedly verified 16 months of outstanding salaries but paid only five months, leaving the remaining liability unresolved.
Obi had earlier maintained that his administration cleared more than N35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears and handed over the state without outstanding salaries, pensions, gratuities or certified payments owed to contractors.
He also rejected the state’s earlier claims concerning an N2 billion ecological loan, saying the funds were released shortly before he left office to address the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis and remained untouched in a First Bank account at UNIZIK.
Obi challenged the state government to produce evidence of unpaid obligations and said he would stop campaigning for the 2027 presidency if it could establish that he left debts or unpaid contractor liabilities.
Mefor, however, said the state’s position was based on records and challenged the former governor to explain the discrepancy surrounding the account he identified as holding the ecological funds.
The commissioner also disputed figures concerning Obi’s reported spending during his eight years in office, putting total expenditure at about $4.05 billion when audited and published expenditures were converted using average official exchange rates for the period.
He said the government was not arguing that borrowing itself was wrong, maintaining that loans could be justified when used for productive infrastructure and human development.
The controversy has also drawn the Presidency into the dispute. Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, challenged Obi over his statement that he would withdraw from the 2027 presidential race if evidence of outstanding liabilities from his tenure was produced.
Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri Jnr, said the former governor’s team was preparing a detailed response to the Anambra government’s claims.
Zekeri described the Presidency’s intervention as unnecessary and said former officials who served under Obi were examining the allegations.
He said the matter was being treated as a governance issue rather than a campaign dispute and that a response would be issued when ready.
Anambra government, Peter Obi clash over N127bn debt, ecological fund
