Peter Obi Challenges Anambra Debt Claims, Says ‘I Paid What Was Due’

AWKA — Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has challenged claims that his administration left debts for the state to service, insisting that he cleared all obligations due before handing over power in 2014.

Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, spoke in a video from the Voice of Ndi Anambra Podcast circulated on Monday, following comments by the Anambra State Government that deductions from its monthly federal allocation were still being used to repay loans incurred under previous administrations.

The state Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, had disclosed on the podcast that Anambra was still servicing loans obtained during the administrations of Obi and his successor, Willie Obiano.

But Obi, who governed the state between 2006 and 2014, rejected the claim, maintaining that he left office without unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities or verified debts owed to suppliers and contractors.

“As at the day I left office, I was not owing any salary, pension, or gratuity that Anambra State Government is supposed to pay,” he said.

“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.”

Obi says N2.1bn was left for erosion project

Obi also revealed that he left about N2.1 billion in an ecological fund account belonging to the state government.

He said the Federal Government released the money about three months before the end of his tenure for a specific erosion-control project.

“The day I left office, I had an account in the First Bank of Nigeria, a branch in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, an ecological fund account with a balance of about N2.1 billion,” Obi said.

He explained that the money was not intended for general government spending because it had been specifically earmarked for the erosion project.

According to him, some officials wanted the funds spent before his departure, but he declined, arguing that government must continue beyond an individual administration.

“My people were saying, ‘let’s expend this money’. But I kept telling them, government is a continuity and I want the person coming after me to succeed,” he said.

Obi also offered to provide the bank details for verification, challenging anyone who disputes his claim to examine the records.

“I say it again, if you go to the account, I’m going to give you the account number. I have given you the bank and the branch. If you see anything contrary to the day I left office, I will stop campaigning,” he said.

2027: Obi says governors can back Tinubu

On the 2027 presidential election, Obi said governors were free to support President Bola Tinubu or any other candidate of their choice.

He said this also applied to Anambra Governor Chukwuma Soludo and other governors backing Tinubu.

“It’s about over 30 governors today supporting the president. And it is politics and their rights to support whoever they want,” Obi said.

However, Obi said he was not asking governors to support his presidential bid, but wanted them to ensure that the next election was free, fair and credible.

“I’m not urging them to support me. I am only urging them to allow free, fair and credible elections. I’m talking to the people because they have only one vote,” he said.

The former governor maintained that voters, rather than governors, should determine the outcome of the election.

He recalled that he contested the 2023 presidential election without having councillors or other elected officials in power.

“Today, it is still the same case. The only thing is I am campaigning to be the president of Nigeria,” he said.

“But it is the people of Nigeria that will decide, not the governors, unless they’re going to write the results or rig the election, which is what I’m preaching against.

“Let it be a free, fair and credible election. Whatever the people decide, I will respect it.”

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