Fidelia Soriwei, Abuja
A fresh disagreement has emerged between the Presidency, former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and the Anambra State Government over claims relating to the state’s financial position at the end of Obi’s administration.
The latest exchange followed comments by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who referenced Obi’s previous assertion that he left Anambra without outstanding debts and had challenged anyone to prove otherwise.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Onanuga said Obi had publicly stated that he would withdraw from the presidential race if evidence emerged contradicting his account of the state’s finances.
“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.
According to him, the Anambra State Government had presented figures and records which it said showed outstanding liabilities inherited from the former governor’s administration.
“Now, the Anambra government has confronted him with facts and figures showing he owed Water Corporation workers, teachers, and pension and gratuities, and had also borrowed for frivolous things,” Onanuga said.
“The ball is back in his court. Will he follow through on his threat by quitting the race?” he added.
The Presidency’s reaction came after the Anambra State Government responded to Obi’s rejection of allegations that his administration left unpaid obligations, including contractor debts, pension liabilities, salary arrears and issues relating to an ecological fund.
Obi had maintained that his administration cleared more than ₦35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears and left office without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity obligations.
He also disputed claims concerning an ecological fund, stating that over ₦2.13 billion remained in a First Bank account designated for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion intervention project when he left office.
However, the Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, challenged that account, saying the bank account cited by Obi was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account rather than an ecological fund account.
Mefor said the government obtained a certified printout of the account and claimed that “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 had earlier insisted that his account of Anambra’s finances was accurate, stating, “If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning.”
