The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, has rejected claims that his administration left Anambra State with unpaid debts, salaries, pensions, gratuities and contractor obligations when he handed over power.
Obi made his position known on Tuesday in a statement shared on X, following claims by the Anambra State Government that the current administration was still repaying loans inherited from previous governments, including those taken during Obi’s tenure.
The former governor said the claims were untrue, maintaining that his administration had cleared more than ₦35 billion in outstanding gratuities and arrears accumulated before he assumed office.
Obi also said that when he left government, there were no outstanding obligations relating to workers’ salaries, pensions or gratuities. He added that contractors whose projects had been completed and properly certified were also not owed by his administration.
The former governor specifically addressed the claim concerning a ₦2 billion ecological loan, explaining that the money was released shortly before he left office to address the erosion crisis affecting Oko and Umuchiana.
According to Obi, he deliberately refused to spend the funds because they were meant for a specific project and he believed the money should remain available for the incoming administration to continue the work.
He said the funds were kept untouched in an account with First Bank and that the account had a balance of more than ₦2.13 billion at the time.
Obi further explained that the money set aside for the erosion project was separate from the savings he said his administration accumulated before leaving office. He claimed that his government handed over more than ₦75 billion in savings to the succeeding administration, excluding funds reserved for specific projects.
His comments followed remarks by the Anambra State Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, who said the Soludo administration had not taken any commercial bank loan since coming into office but had continued to repay debts inherited from previous governments.
Okafor said deductions were being made from the state’s federal allocations to service loans obtained by earlier administrations. He also said the state government had succeeded in reducing its overall debt burden by more than 83 per cent.
Obi, however, challenged the Anambra State Government and anyone disputing his account to provide evidence showing that his claims were incorrect.
He went further by attaching a condition to the challenge, saying he would end his 2027 campaign if anyone could prove that his account of the state’s finances at the end of his tenure was false.
The dispute comes as Obi continues his political activities ahead of the 2027 presidential election, while questions over the financial records of his former administration remain part of the political debate in Anambra State.