Anambra State Government Fact-checks, Debunks Peter Obi Performance Claims
Says Peter Obi Borrowed, Left Debts; Audit Uncovers Missing Ecological Fund The Anambra State government has disputed claims by Nigerian Democratic Congress presidential candidate Mr Peter Obi about...
Says Peter Obi Borrowed, Left Debts; Audit Uncovers Missing Ecological Fund
The Anambra State government has disputed claims by Nigerian Democratic Congress presidential candidate Mr Peter Obi about his achievements as governor, after he challenged critics to prove him wrong and pledged to end his 2027 campaign if they succeeded.
Obi challenged those accusing his administration of leaving debts to name even one person he owed, saying he would end his 2027 presidential campaign if they produced such proof. His remarks came as debate continued over the financial records and liabilities of past Anambra State administrations.
In response, Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Mr Law Mefor, said Obi should not make such claims without evidence. He argued that the issue was not whether one creditor could be identified, but that several obligations from Obi’s administration remained unsettled. “How can you say that if we show you one person you owe, you will quit the 2027 presidential election campaign? We don’t want you to quit, and we wish you well. But you lied. You owe many people, and those debts are yet to be cleared till date,” he wrote in a statement titled: Governor Peter Obi and Record of Public Debt in Anambra: Facts Beyond Propaganda and Lies.
In a post on his X handle, Mr Peter Obi threw a challenge: Debunking the Phantom Debts and Ecological Loan Fallacy
“My attention has been drawn to trending claims by the Anambra State Government that my administration left behind inherited debts, including a ₦2 billion ecological loan, contractor liabilities, and unpaid salaries, gratuities, and pensions. This is completely false.
“We systematically liquidated historical gratuities and arrears dating back several years, amounting to over ₦35 billion. At the point of handover, the state owed nothing in salaries, gratuities, or pensions, nor did we owe anything to any contractor for projects duly executed and certified.
“The ₦2 billion ecological fund in question was released barely three months before the end of my tenure for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis. Despite pressure to spend the money, I refused, insisting that it should be left for my successor because the government is a continuum and the funds were tied to a specific project.
“The money was therefore left 100 per cent intact in First Bank, in Account No. 2018779464, with a balance of over ₦2.13 billion.
“It is important to stress that funds tied to specific projects or set aside for particular purposes were not even included in the over ₦75 billion in savings we left behind.
“If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning”.
The Anambra State government, in response, said Mr Peter Obi should not make strong claims about the state’s financial records while relying on what he described as false or inaccurate figures. He said debts and other financial obligations should be assessed against the available facts.
Fact No 1
“HE Peter Obi, spent about $4.05 billion (equivalent to N5.4 trillion at the current exchange rate) in 8 years and also contracted US $123.77 Billion in external debt alone, which our government has so far paid billions in service payment. “Peter Obi still left a state without any functioning urban or rural water schemes; increasing insecurity and increased poverty; ostensibly dead public schools and dead public hospitals with grossly inadequate teacher 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 (and this administration is only beginning to close the gap); decrepit infrastructure with huge urban schools, etc.
Only about 27% of Anambra residents patronised public health institutions due to their poor quality and non-functionality. We are convinced 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”.
Fact 2: As at the date HE Peter Obi left office (17th March 2014) there were, and still are, 8 different external borrowings his administration left for his successors.
“As at June 30, the total balance of such loans left by HE Peter Obi, at the official exchange rate, stood at N127.48 Billion”. The statement went ahead to summarise the latest report from the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Anambra debt status (as of June 2025), indicating the dates the loans were contracted during the tenure of Peter Obi March 2006-March 2014.
Fact 3: HE Peter Obi owed verified salaries, gratuity, and pension to retired teachers and staff of Water Corporation
“HE Peter Obi made very strong statements about clearing all inherited arrears of pensions, salaries, and gratuities. That statement is patently false”. There is the arrears to staff of defunct Water Corporation, which lingered throughout HE Peter Obi’s tenure, culminating in court processes and judgements. Also, there were arrears salaries, pensions, and gratuities owed to primary school teachers under local government system during Governor Mbadinuju’s tenure.
“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 only paid five months and no more until today. So, your Excellency, you owe salaries, pensions and gratuities. Many of these people are still alive and can testify. How can you say that if we show you one person that you owed, you will quit your 2027 presidential campaign?
Fact No 4: HE Peter Obi blatantly lied about any Ecological Fund Account or Deposit with First Bank of Nigeria, UNIZIK Branch, Awka.
Where did HE Peter Obi invent the N2 billion ecological fund matter and went ahead to fabricate LIES about it? HE Peter Obi wrote without any equivocation that as at the date he left office, March 17th, 2014, he left “the balance of over N2.13billion in a First Bank account number 2018779464, UNIZIK Branch, Awka. “He subsequently charged that if the claim is found to be false, he “would stop campaigning”.
Well, we have obtained a certified printout of the said account from inception to date. First, the account is an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) – Consolidated Revenue Account and NOT an ecological fund account. Second, from 2011, when the account was opened until date, there has never been any such amount – whether as inflow or balance in the account.
The statement challenged HE Peter Obi to tell the government where the money is kept, since he was the one who mentioned it.
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