Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has rejected claims by the state government that his administration left behind billions of naira in unpaid loans and other financial obligations.
The Anambra State Government said eight external loans associated with projects approved during Obi’s administration remained outstanding, with a balance of $92.35 million, which it valued at about ₦127.37 billion as of June 30, 2026.
The loans, according to the state government, were contracted between 2007 and 2013 and were connected to eight projects covering malaria control, education, healthcare, erosion and watershed management, community development and agricultural development.
Among the projects listed were the Malaria Control Booster Project, the Third National Fadama Development Project, the Health System Development Project, the State Education Programme Investment Project, the Community and Social Development Project, the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project and the Value Chain Development Project.
The state said the original external loans amounted to about $123.77 million, leaving $92.35 million outstanding by June 30, 2026.
The largest outstanding amount cited by the government was about $37.34 million on the State Education Programme Investment Project. Another $34.86 million remained outstanding on the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, while about $4.48 million remained on the Malaria Control Booster Project.
Anambra officials said the current administration was continuing to service the loans. The state also maintained that borrowing itself was not the problem if the money was used for useful projects and human development.
The debt figures followed comments by Anambra Commissioner for Finance Izuchukwu Okafor that the Soludo administration was still servicing loans inherited from previous governments, including the administrations of Obi and former governor Willie Obiano. The commissioner said the Soludo administration had not taken fresh commercial bank loans since coming into office.
Obi strongly rejected the claims.
He maintained that when he handed over power in March 2014, Anambra was not owing salaries, pensions or gratuities that the state government was responsible for paying. He also said his administration did not owe contractors who had completed and properly certified their projects.
Obi said his administration had cleared more than ₦35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears, arguing that his government had systematically dealt with financial obligations inherited from earlier administrations.
He also said his administration left more than ₦75 billion in savings for the state.
The former governor subsequently released a handover document dated March 17, 2014, through his supporters. The document was presented as a record of Anambra’s financial position when he left office and showed a net positive balance of more than ₦86 billion, according to reports on the document.
The document has become a central part of Obi’s response because his position is that the financial position of the state at the time of handover should be judged from the records available at that time.
The Anambra Government, however, continues to maintain that outstanding loans from Obi’s administration remained financial obligations of the state even after he left office.
Dispute Over ₦2.13 Billion Ecological Fund
A separate part of the dispute concerns an alleged ₦2.13 billion ecological fund.
Obi said the money was released shortly before the end of his administration for the Oko and Umuchiana erosion crisis. According to his account, he deliberately did not spend the money because it was meant for a specific project and should be available to the incoming administration.
He said the money was left untouched in a First Bank account and was separate from the more than ₦75 billion in savings he said his administration left behind.
The Anambra Government disputes this account.
Information Commissioner Law Mefor said the government found no evidence supporting Obi’s description of the account as an ecological fund account. The government said records showed the account was an internally generated revenue consolidated account and that it could not establish that ₦2.13 billion in ecological funds had been held there as claimed.
Dispute Over Salaries, Pensions and Gratuities
The state government has also challenged Obi’s claim that he left office without unpaid worker obligations.
Officials said the Soludo administration had paid about ₦22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears involving retired state and local government workers and teachers.
The government also raised the issue of salary arrears involving workers of the former Anambra State Water Corporation. It said an agreement had been reached to settle those obligations in three instalments and that two instalments had already been paid.
The government further alleged that salary arrears involving primary school teachers went back to earlier administrations. It said Obi’s administration had verified 16 months of such arrears but had paid five months, with the current administration undertaking another verification exercise.
Obi disputes the broader claim that he left the state with unpaid obligations of the kind being alleged.
Obi Challenges Government to Prove Its Claims
Obi has challenged the Anambra Government to provide evidence contradicting his account of the state’s finances at the end of his tenure.
He has said he would end his 2027 presidential campaign if the claims against his record could be established.
The dispute has now moved beyond a disagreement over whether Anambra has outstanding loans. The central question is whether the loans now being serviced by the state should be described as debts Obi left behind in the sense alleged by the current government, and what the state’s complete financial position was when he handed over power in 2014.
The Anambra Government has presented current debt records showing outstanding external loans linked to projects from the period. Obi has responded with his account of the 2014 handover and a financial document that his camp says demonstrates that the state was left with substantial funds.
The two sides therefore remain sharply divided over the interpretation of Anambra’s financial position, while the dispute has taken on added political significance ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
