The Anambra State Government has disputed claims made by former Governor Peter Obi about the public debt he left behind, alleging he understated the loans his administration incurred and left inherited arrears unresolved.
The rebuttal came in a statement signed by Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Dr. Law Mefor, responding to a viral post in which Obi described the government’s earlier claims — made during a podcast by Commissioner for Finance Izuchukwu Okafor — as “Phantom Debts and Ecological Loan Fallacy.”
Obi is the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 election.
What The State Government Alleges
According to the statement, Obi’s administration spent about $4.05 billion, equivalent to roughly ₦5.4 trillion at current exchange rates, over eight years in office, and contracted $123.77 billion in external loans that the state has continued repaying.
The government said this figure was calculated using audited and published expenditure records converted at average official exchange rates during Obi’s tenure, which ran from 2006 to March 17, 2014.
Citing the latest Debt Management Office (DMO) report as of June 30, 2026, the government listed eight external loans allegedly signed under Obi’s administration between 2007 and 2013, spanning malaria control, education, health system development, erosion management and community development projects.
The statement put the combined outstanding balance on these loans at $92.35 million, or approximately ₦127.4 billion, as of that date.
The government further alleged that Obi’s administration left unresolved salary, gratuity and pension arrears, including for former staff of the defunct Water Corporation and primary school teachers under the local government system.
It said the Soludo administration has cleared about ₦22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears but that some obligations dating to Obi’s tenure remain unresolved, including a Water Corporation salary dispute that has moved through the courts and is now being settled in instalments.
Dispute Over Alleged Ecological Fund Balance
The government also disputed Obi’s claim that he left a ₦2.13 billion ecological fund balance in a First Bank account at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) branch in Awka.
According to the statement, a certified printout of the account — which the government said is an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Consolidated Revenue Account rather than an ecological fund account — showed no such inflow or balance since the account was opened in 2011.
“Since HE Peter Obi raised the issue and admitted that his government received such an amount and it is evident that no such an amount ever entered into the account that he cited, it behoves on HE Peter Obi to tell us where exactly his government kept the money or is the money missing,” the statement said.
The government said it was not disputing that borrowing itself was improper, noting that most governments carry some debt, but alleged that Obi’s public statements about his fiscal record contained inaccuracies.
Obi has not yet issued a public response to the specific figures cited in the government’s latest statement. JolibaLive has reached out to his media team for comment and will update this report accordingly.
The exchange comes as Nigeria heads toward the 2027 general election, in which Obi is running for president and debt-management records from his time as Anambra governor have become a recurring point of political contention.
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