Obi Challenges Anambra Government To Produce Records Behind Debt Allegations

Peter Obi has challenged the Anambra State Government to provide documentary evidence for claims that his administration left behind debts and other unpaid obligations when he left office in 2014.

The challenge followed comments by Commissioner for Finance Izuchukwu Okafor that the state was still servicing financial obligations incurred by previous administrations.

Okafor also questioned the handling of an alleged ₦2.1 billion ecological fund.

Obi dismissed the allegations, saying his administration left office after clearing outstanding salaries, pensions, gratuities and certified contractor obligations.

He said more than ₦35 billion in historical arrears and gratuities had been systematically liquidated during his tenure.

On the ecological fund, Obi said the Federal Government released the money about three months before his departure.

He said the funds were kept intact for the incoming administration and identified a First Bank account which he said contained more than ₦2.13 billion.

Obi subsequently challenged the Soludo administration to establish otherwise, saying he would stop campaigning for president if the allegations against his administration could be proven.

The state government has rejected his account.

Information Commissioner Law Mefor said the account identified by Obi was not an ecological fund account but an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account.

The government said it had obtained a certified bank record to support its position.

It also said eight external loans remained outstanding, with their combined balance put at $92.35 million as of June 30, 2026.

The dispute has therefore produced two sharply different accounts of Anambra’s financial position at the end of Obi’s tenure.

While Obi points to arrears he said were cleared before the 2014 handover, the Soludo administration is highlighting loans and other obligations that continued beyond the transition.

The political significance of the dispute extends beyond the finances of a state Obi left more than a decade ago. As he prepares for another presidential contest, his record as Anambra governor remains part of the public scrutiny surrounding his candidacy. Claims about his handling of public finances therefore have significance beyond his current disagreement with Soludo.

At the same time, the government’s response places its own account under scrutiny. The figures and liabilities it has presented must be matched against the circumstances in which the obligations arose and the payments made before and after the 2014 transition. The dispute is consequently about more than competing political statements; it raises questions about the financial history inherited by successive administrations.

Resolving the dispute requires determining what Anambra owed, what was settled and what remained when Obi handed over power in 201