The 2027 presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has challenged the Anambra State Government to provide evidence that his administration left debts that are still being repaid by the state.
Obi, who was Anambra governor from 2010 to 2014, spoke during an interview in United States’ Washington, DC, in response to a claim by the state Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, that the administration of Governor Charles Soludo was still repaying loans and other debts incurred by the Obi’s administration and other former governors.
Obi said he left office without outstanding obligations to workers, contractors or suppliers whose documents had been processed for payment.
“As at the day I left office, I was not owing any salary, pension, or gratuity that Anambra state government is supposed to pay,” he said. “I was not owing any supplier or contractor that had executed his job and his documents processed, not one.
“The day I left office, I paid what was due to be paid. I wasn’t owing any contractors.”
The former governor also addressed the allegation surrounding N2.1bn in ecological funds received by his administration shortly before he left office, saying the Federal Government released the money about three months before the end of his tenure.
He added that he deliberately left it untouched for the incoming administration of Willie Obiano, who succeeded him in 2014.
He said officials in his administration had proposed using the money before he left office, but he rejected the suggestion because the funds were meant for a specific erosion-control project.
“The day I left office, I had an account in the First Bank of Nigeria, a branch in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, an ecological fund account with a balance of about N2.1 billion,” he said. “I had it in the bank. And it is not included in the money I left, reason being that it was dedicated specifically for a particular erosion project that was supposed to be ongoing.”
Obi challenged anyone disputing his account of the funds to examine the account records.
“I say it again, if you go to the account, I’m going to give you the account number. I have given you the bank and the branch. If you see anything contrary to the day I left office, I will stop campaigning (to be president),” he said.
Obi also repeated his claim that he left more than $150m in the Anambra State treasury when he left office in 2014.
He said $50m each was saved in Access Bank, the defunct Diamond Bank and Fidelity Bank, with an interest rate of at least 6.5 per cent.
Obi had said in 2022 that the investments, if calculated at the time, would have been worth about N60bn.
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