The Anambra State Government has rubbished the defence put forward by presidential candidate Peter Obi concerning the debt he left behind after governing the state.
This came after Obi issued a statement denying allegations by the state Commissioner for Finance about the debt his successor inherited.
Obi said, “As at the day I left office, I was not owing any salary, pension, or gratuity that Anambra State Government is supposed to pay.
“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.
In response, the state government accused Obi of taking advantage of the campaign season by going to extremes and making wild, verifiably false claims.
According to the state, Governor Chukwuma Soludo's administration has been spending billions of naira servicing the same debt Obi denies.
Stating facts, the state said Obi spent about $4.05 billion (equivalent to N5.4 trillion at the current exchange rate) in eight years and also contracted US$123.77 billion in external debt alone, for which the state government has so far paid billions of naira in service payments.
The state said it converted the audited and published expenditures using the average official exchange rates during the eight years of Obi's administration, and they sum to about US$4.05 billion.
"At the current official exchange rate, it would sum to about N5.4 trillion and he surely governed to the best of his ability. Of course, no government will ever finish the work of development. HE Peter Obi still left a state without any functioning urban or rural woter schemes, increasing insecurity and INCREASED POVERTY, ostensibly dead public schools and dead public hospitals with grossly inadequate teachers and medical personnel. Indeed, 44% of all communities in Anambra, 78 out of 179, did not and still do not have any public primary schools. This administration is only beginning to close the gap, despite decrepit infrastructure, huge urban slums, etc. Only about 27% of Anambra residents patronised public health institutions because of poor quality and non-functionality (he even admitted abandoning public health system at the recent NBA conference). We are convinced that many Ndi Anambra would not have minded if HE Peter Obi had borrowed to fix public schools and hospitals, water schemes, infrastructure, or even to reduce poverty and insecurity. Debt, especially for bankable projects and human capital development, is justifiable. So, HE Peter Obi should stop being irked as if all debt is bad," the state said.
It said that as at the date Obi left office (17th March 2014), there were and still are, eight different external borrowings his administration left for his successors.
"As of June 30, 2026, the total balance of such loans left by HE Peter Obi at the official exchange rate stood at N127.48 billion. Here we summarise the latest report from the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Anambra's debt status (as of June 2026), indicating the dates the loans were signed and the balance remaining.
"Evidently, HE Peter Obi borrowed for malaria, erosion control, education, healthcare, etc. So far, this government pays hundreds of millions of naira every month to service these debts and we are not complaining it is good for Anambra once we can show the impacts."
The state also rebutted Obi's claim that he was not owing any salary as at the time he left office, saying Obi owed verified salaries, gratuity, and pension to retired teachers and staff of Water Corporation.
It said, "HE Peter Obi made very strong statements about clearing ALL inherited arrears of pensions, salaries and gratuities. That claim is patently false. We do not want to get into the debate between him and his predecessors regarding which arrears were paid by them or by him. Our administration has cleared about N22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears of retired state and local government employees and teachers. However, there are still legacy arrears which have lingered since the time of HE Peter Obi.
"First, there are arrears of salaries to staff of defunct Water Corporation, which lingered throughout HE Peter Cel's tenure, culminating in court processes and judgments. It is this administration that has negotiated a settlement and already paid the first two instalments of the agreed three instalment payments. Second, there are arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities owed to primary school teachers under the local government merit system during the Gov. Mbadinuju's tenure. The attention of our administration has recently been drawn to these lingering arrears. We have been informed that the government of HE Peter Obi verified and certified the debt of 16 months of salary arrears and agreed to pay in tranches. It has only paid five months and no more until today. This administration has set up a committee headed by the Head of Service to finalise a new verification for us to pay.
"Your Excellency, you owed salaries, pensions and gratuities. Many of these people are still alive and can testify. It is not good to speak loudly without facts or with fabricated figures. How can you say that if we show one person that you owed them, you will quit your 2027 presidential campaign? No, we don't want you to quit, and we wish you well. But you obviously lied: you owed many, not one, and those debts are yet to be fully cleared even today!"
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