RismadarVoice Reporters
September 15, 2026
Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, has rejected claims by the Anambra State Government that his administration left behind inherited debts, including a ₦2 billion ecological fund obligation, contractor liabilities and unpaid salaries, pensions and gratuities.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, described the allegations as “completely false” in a statement posted on Tuesday, insisting that his administration cleared more than ₦35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears before handing over power.
He said the state had no outstanding obligations in salaries, pensions or gratuities at the time he left office, and that contractors whose projects had been properly executed and certified were also not owed money.
Obi’s response followed claims by the administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo that the state was still servicing loans inherited from previous administrations, including those of Obi and former Governor Willie Obiano.
Anambra State Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, had said the Soludo administration had not obtained any commercial bank loan since taking office but continued to make repayments on debts incurred by earlier governments.
According to Okafor, deductions were being made from the state’s Federation Account Allocation Committee funds to service the inherited loans. He also said the state government had reduced Anambra’s debt burden by more than 83 per cent.
However, Obi specifically disputed the reference to the ₦2 billion ecological fund, saying the money was released about three months before the end of his administration for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.
He explained that although there was pressure to utilise the money, he decided not to spend it because it had been released for a specific purpose and should therefore remain available for the incoming administration.
Obi said the funds were left untouched in a First Bank account and, according to his account, had a balance of more than ₦2.13 billion when he handed over.
He further argued that the money should not be regarded as part of the savings his administration claimed to have accumulated for Anambra State because funds earmarked for specific projects were excluded from the more than ₦75 billion in savings, he said his government left behind.
The former governor also challenged the Anambra State Government and other critics to provide evidence capable of disproving his account.
He went further by pledging to terminate his 2027 presidential campaign if anyone could establish that his administration left the obligations being attributed to it.
The dispute adds a fresh political dimension to the debate over Anambra State’s finances as Obi campaigns for the presidency ahead of the 2027 general election.
The state government’s position and Obi’s response centre on the distinction between debts inherited from earlier administrations, funds allocated for specific projects and the financial obligations outstanding at the point of transition between governments.
Obi maintained that his administration systematically cleared longstanding financial liabilities before leaving office and that the ecological funds cited by the state were deliberately preserved for the erosion-control project for which they had been released.
