Presidency challenges Obi over Anambra debt dispute

The Presidency has challenged Peter Obi to honour his pledge to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race if claims that his administration left outstanding financial liabilities in Anambra State are established.

Obi, a former Anambra governor and presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has been engaged in a dispute with the state government over the financial position in which he left the state when his tenure ended in 2014.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, said on Wednesday that Obi had previously maintained that he left the state without outstanding debt and had pledged to end his campaign if evidence proved otherwise.

Onanuga said the Anambra government had now presented figures alleging that Obi’s administration left liabilities involving workers, teachers, pensions and gratuities, as well as borrowing.

“The ball is back in his court. Will he follow through on his threat by quitting the race?” Onanuga said.

The intervention followed a fresh exchange between Obi and the Anambra State Government over debts and other financial obligations attributed to his administration.

Obi has rejected the state’s account, maintaining that his government cleared more than ₦35bn in historical gratuities and arrears and left office without outstanding salaries, pensions or gratuities.

He has also disputed the government’s position on an ecological fund, saying more than ₦2.13bn was left untouched in a First Bank account for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.

But the Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, challenged Obi’s account on Wednesday.

Mefor said the First Bank account identified by Obi was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account rather than an ecological fund account.

The commissioner said the state government had obtained a certified printout of the account and claimed that its records did not show the ₦2.13bn cited by Obi as either an inflow or balance.

The state government has also released records which it says show that external loans associated with projects during Obi’s administration remained outstanding years after he left office.

Obi has disputed the broader allegations about his financial record and challenged the government to substantiate its claims.

The disagreement therefore remains centred on the interpretation and attribution of debts, liabilities and financial records from Obi’s eight-year tenure as governor.

Obi has said that if evidence establishes that his account of the state’s finances is incorrect, he would stop campaigning.