.
.
By 247ureports.com
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has renewed pressure on Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate Peter Obi over his record as Anambra State governor, demanding he withdraw from the 2027 race following fresh financial disclosures from the state government.
The Allegations
In a statement issued Monday, Campaign Council spokesman Dele Alake said Obi and his supporters have long portrayed his eight-year tenure (2006–2014) as a model of fiscal discipline, including repeated claims that he left the state debt-free. Alake argued that recent disclosures from the Anambra State Government tell a different story, alleging Obi’s persona as a fiscally prudent, “squeaky-clean” politician has now collapsed under scrutiny.
According to figures the council attributed to the state government, Obi’s administration spent approximately $4.05 billion (N5.4 trillion) over eight years and contracted $123.77 million in external loans. The council said eight separate external borrowings — covering malaria control, erosion management, education, and healthcare — remained outstanding when Obi left office on March 17, 2014, and that successive administrations, including current Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s, have continued servicing them.
Alake also cited a April 2006 memo, allegedly from Obi’s then-Chief of Staff Chuks Ileogbunam, appealing for release of a N15 million monthly salary payment to Water Corporation staff to avert protests early in Obi’s first term. The council tied this to Obi’s own pledge to resign if workers were shown to have gone unpaid under his watch, and further criticized a recent solidarity visit Obi made to an individual facing EFCC trial over alleged unexplained wealth. The statement calls on Obi to honor a separate, more recent pledge: to quit the 2027 presidential race if proof emerges that his Anambra administration left behind liabilities.
Background: A Back-and-Forth Feud
This is the latest escalation in a weeks-long dispute between Obi and the Soludo-led Anambra government. The state’s Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Dr. Law Mefor, had earlier said the outstanding balance on the disputed external loans stood at N127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026, and separately challenged Obi’s claim to have left over N2.1 billion in an ecological fund for his successor. The presidency, through Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga, has also pressed Obi on the matter, arguing his record in office has often been overstated and that the ball is now in his court to make good on his pledge to quit the race.
Obi Pushes Back — And the State Has Walked Back Part of Its Claim
Obi has firmly rejected the allegations. In a statement on X, he challenged the state government to produce evidence of the claimed $2 billion ecological loan, unpaid contractor liabilities, and outstanding salaries, gratuities and pensions, insisting his administration in fact cleared more than N35 billion in historical arrears it inherited. He has stood by his pledge to halt his campaign if the claims are substantiated.
Notably, the Anambra government’s position has not been entirely consistent: Commissioner Mefor acknowledged on Arise TV that the state had walked back its earlier claim that Obi’s administration left behind a $123 million Sovereign Wealth Loan, admitting he had not verified the figure with the appropriate federal institution before making the claim.
Adding further weight to Obi’s defense, former Anambra Secretary to the State Government Oseloka Obaze — who says he witnessed the 2014 handover — has publicly backed the official handover note Obi presented to successor Willie Obiano, stating it listed both assets and liabilities in detail and was formally acknowledged and signed for by Obiano’s office.
What’s Next
With both sides trading figures and neither backing down, the debt dispute has become a flashpoint in the early jostling ahead of the 2027 presidential election — testing not just Obi’s fiscal record but his pledge to stake his candidacy on it.
