The Presidency has weighed in on the ongoing dispute between former Anambra State Governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the Anambra State Government over the state’s debt and financial liabilities.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Obi had previously claimed that he left Anambra State without debt and challenged him to honour his pledge to stop campaigning if evidence proved otherwise.
Onanuga made the comments in a post on X on Wednesday, following a fresh response by the Anambra State Government to Obi’s denial of allegations concerning liabilities allegedly left by his administration.
“Peter Obi claimed he left Anambra with a clean slate of debt and even threatened to quit the presidential race if his claims were proven otherwise,” Onanuga wrote.
He said the state government had subsequently presented what it described as facts and figures relating to liabilities allegedly inherited from Obi’s administration.
Onanuga alleged that the former governor left outstanding obligations involving Water Corporation workers, teachers, pensions and gratuities, while also claiming that some loans were obtained for what he described as frivolous purposes.
“The ball is back in his court. Will he follow through on his threat by quitting the race?” he asked.
Obi Disputes Claims
The Presidency’s comments followed a fresh statement by the Anambra State Government after Obi, on Tuesday, rejected claims that his administration left behind inherited debts and other financial obligations.
Obi said his administration cleared more than N35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears and left office without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity obligations.
He also disputed the state government’s claim regarding an alleged N2 billion ecological fund, saying more than N2.13 billion had been left untouched in a First Bank account for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.
However, the Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, disputed Obi’s account in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Mefor said the account referenced by Obi was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account and not an ecological fund account.
According to the commissioner, the state government obtained a certified printout of the account and found no record of the amount claimed by Obi.
He said, “from 2011 when the account was opened until date, there has never been any such amount—whether as inflow or balance—in the account.”
Obi, in his earlier response, had challenged anyone who could establish that his account of Anambra’s finances was inaccurate.
“If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning,” he said.
The exchange has intensified the political dispute over the financial record of Obi’s administration in Anambra, with the former governor and the state government presenting conflicting accounts of the state’s liabilities and financial position when he left office in 2014.
