AWKA, Nigeria – The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress and former governor of Anambra State, Peter Gregory Obi, CON, has dismissed claims by the Anambra State Government alleging that his administration bequeathed an external debt burden of $123.77 million to successive administrations, characterizing the assertion as an erroneous misapplication of public-sector accounting and political distraction, financial and political correspondents monitored in Awka on Friday, September 25, 2026.
The rejoinder follows an escalating public debate ignited by recent statements and financial disclosures published by the administration of Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, which alleged that Obi’s government contracted eight external loan facilities whose outstanding debt balance stood at $92.35 million as of June 30, 2026.
Okay News reports that in an extensive personal statement titled “On the Anambra Debt Question,” released on Thursday night following a period of mourning for his associate, Chief Okey Ezeibe, Obi clarified that the state government conflated the cumulative statutory ceilings of multi-year multilateral development programs with actual cash drawdowns executed during his eight-year tenure.
Obi reiterated that he never obtained commercial loans from financial institutions or floated municipal bonds on behalf of the state, maintaining that on the day he completed his tenure on March 17, 2014, the state government owed no verified salary arrears, pensions, gratuities, or certified contractor invoices.
“As Governor of Anambra State, I did not approach any financial institution to borrow funds or issue a bond on behalf of the state,” Obi stated. “Indeed, at his farewell ceremony, the then Director-General of the DMO, Abraham Nwankwo, appointed me chairman and declared that, during his 10 years in office, I was the only state governor who had not approached him for a loan facility. When I left office, the Anambra State Government owed no unpaid salaries, gratuities, or pensions. Neither did it owe any contractor or supplier who had completed work that the government had verified and certified.”
The former governor explained that the facilities identified by the state government were concessionary development programs negotiated at the sovereign level by the Federal Government through the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, with selected states admitted through subsidiary on-lending frameworks carrying 25- to 30-year amortization windows.
He argued that the state government committed a fundamental accounting error by aggregating the total approved facility ceilings across decades, rather than isolating the fraction drawn down during his administration.
“The Anambra State Government must therefore differentiate among three separate figures: the total amount approved for the multiyear development program; the amount Anambra State actually drew during my tenure; and the funding balance outstanding when I handed over on 17 March 2014,” Obi stated. “The government has combined these distinct categories, added them together, and described the resulting US$123.77 million as loans left by Peter Obi. That is an incorrect application of public-sector accounting.”
Pointing to official data published by the Debt Management Office, Obi noted that Anambra’s total external debt stood at approximately $18 million when he assumed office in March 2006, rose to about $30 million by March 2014 when he departed, and was recorded at $45.15 million as of December 31, 2014, nine months into the succeeding administration.
“The Anambra State Government must therefore clarify how a state whose recorded external debt was about US$30 million in March 2014 and US$45.15 million in December 2014 could supposedly have inherited US$123.77 million from Peter Obi, who left office in March of that same year,” he observed.
Obi reaffirmed that he bequeathed over $150 million in verifiable dollar-denominated cash investments to the state, projecting that had the principal remained intact, it would have yielded about $10 million in annual income and compounded to approximately $335 million today—an asset base capable of settling the entire $92.35 million outstanding multilateral balance while preserving an investment surplus of $242 million generating $20 million annually.
Appealing to state governors to permit open political space and allow presidential contenders to engage citizens without harassment, Obi stated that he would no longer trade words over his gubernatorial record, declaring that his focus is squarely directed at addressing nationwide socio-economic hardship ahead of the 2027 presidential poll.
