The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has challenged Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the New Democratic Congress, to honour his earlier pledge to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race if it is established that he left Anambra State with a debt burden. According to the council, disclosures by the Anambra State Government showed that Obi contracted $123.77m in external loans during his eight-year tenure as governor of the state.
The Anambra State Government revealed that Obi spent about $4.05bn during his tenure and left office in March 2014 with eight external borrowings for projects in areas including malaria control, erosion management, education and healthcare, which subsequent administrations continued to service. The state government also disclosed that Obi's administration had several outstanding debts, contradicting his claims of fiscal prudence and leaving Anambra without debt.
The APC campaign council, in a statement by its spokesman and Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, said Obi's claims of exceptional fiscal prudence, including the claim that he left Anambra without a debt burden, had been exposed as false. The council stated that Obi's persona had been deconstructed after disclosures by the Anambra State Government, which responded to Obi's challenge to verify his record.
The council also revealed that Obi failed to pay workers' salaries in some ministries, including the Water Corporation staff who protested over unpaid salaries. A memo to Obi, dated April 25, 2006, from his Chief of Staff, Chuks Ileogbunam, pleaded with the governor to pay the Water Corporation workers' N15m monthly salary to avoid protests at the Governor's office.
The APC PCC urged Obi to acknowledge his alleged misrepresentations and seek forgiveness from Anambra people, while also questioning his recent solidarity visit to a person facing an EFCC trial over alleged financial misconduct. The statement added that Obi had promised to quit the presidential race if it was proven that he left a debt burden for Anambra State.
Obi had earlier challenged anyone to prove his account of the state's finances wrong, saying he would stop campaigning if contrary evidence was established. However, Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, disputed Obi's claim that his administration cleared over ₦35bn in inherited gratuities and arrears and left office without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity liabilities.
Obi's administration had claimed that over ₦2.13bn meant for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis remained untouched in a First Bank account. However, Mefor said a certified statement obtained by the government showed that the account cited by Obi was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account, not an ecological fund account, and had never recorded the alleged ₦2.13bn as either inflow or balance since it was opened in 2011.
Key points
- The APC campaign council challenges Peter Obi to honour his promise to quit the 2027 presidential race over Anambra debt.
- Obi's administration spent $4.05bn and contracted $123.77m in external loans during his tenure as governor.
- The Anambra State Government disputes Obi's claims of clearing ₦35bn in inherited gratuities and arrears and leaving office without outstanding liabilities.
