The Anambra State Government has renewed its challenge to former Governor Peter Obi to account for the ₦2.13 billion ecological fund he claimed was left in a First Bank account when he handed over power in March 2014. Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, issued a statement on September 26, 2026, questioning Obi's claims. Obi had mentioned the fund in a recent television interview on Arise TV, but failed to address the government's concerns.
According to Mefor, Obi provided the account number, bank, and branch where he claimed the money was kept, but the government obtained records from First Bank that contradicted Obi's description. The account number 2018779464 was identified as the Anambra State Government Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Account, not an ecological fund account. This has raised questions about the existence and whereabouts of the fund.
The Anambra State Government has been in a dispute with Obi over the state's financial position when he left office in 2014. The government alleges that Obi's administration left various financial liabilities, while Obi claims that his administration cleared outstanding salaries, pensions, and gratuities. The ecological fund controversy is part of this broader dispute.
Mefor claimed that bank records showed the account did not have a balance close to ₦2 billion as of March 17, 2014, and that ₦2.13 billion did not appear as either an inflow or balance during the account's active period from 2011 to 2018. The government is now asking Obi to explain where the funds are if they were not held in the First Bank account he identified.
Obi had maintained that his administration left more than ₦2.13 billion untouched in the First Bank account as funds earmarked for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis, separate from the more than ₦75 billion in savings he claimed his administration left behind. However, the government's findings suggest that this may not be the case.
The dispute between Obi and the Anambra State Government has implications for the state's financial accountability. Obi had challenged anyone disputing his account of the state's finances to provide evidence to the contrary, and the government remains ready to provide information on the financial records at issue.
The government has called on Obi to address their claims and urged him to apologize if the documentary evidence ultimately contradicts his account. The controversy highlights the need for transparency and accountability in the management of public funds.
Key points
- - The Anambra State Government has challenged Peter Obi to account for the ₦2.13 billion ecological fund. - Bank records obtained by the government contradict Obi's claims about the fund. - The dispute is part of a broader controversy over the state's financial position when Obi left office in 2014.
