Peter Obi Says He Left No Outstanding Debt. So What Is Anambra Still Repaying?

Peter Obi’s latest defence of his record in Anambra did not emerge in isolation.

It followed a claim by the Anambra government that the state is still servicing loans incurred under previous administrations, including the administrations of Obi and Willie Obiano.

The state’s Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, said monthly deductions are being made from the state’s Federation Account allocation to service inherited loans.

He also said the Soludo administration has not borrowed from commercial banks since 2022 and has reduced the state’s debt burden by more than 83 per cent.

Obi’s response was blunt.

“I paid what was due to be paid.”

He said he left office without unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities, suppliers or contractors whose completed jobs had been properly processed.

That distinction is important. A government can contract a long-term loan, leave office before the loan matures and still leave a successor with legitimate repayment obligations.

That does not automatically mean the governor left the state in financial default.

The real question is: What exactly was owed when Obi handed over power in March 2014?

An old political argument

This is not a new dispute. Anambra’s finances have been used against Obi for years.

After he left office, claims emerged about the debt burden he allegedly handed to Obiano’s administration.

Other claims later circulated about the amount of money and savings Obi supposedly left behind.

Some of those claims have been challenged by fact-checkers.

That history explains why Obi is particularly sensitive to the latest assertion.

His political brand depends heavily on his record as Anambra governor.

His supporters present his tenure as evidence that government can save money, avoid waste and plan ahead.

His detractors therefore have an obvious counterargument.

If Anambra is still servicing loans associated with his administration, they ask, how can he present himself as the model of fiscal discipline?

But that argument requires precision.

Debt is not automatically mismanagement.

The important questions are why the money was borrowed, what it financed, the terms of the loan, how much had been repaid when Obi left and what balance remained.

Obi introduces the ₦2.14bn question

Obi has also raised another issue. He said an ecological fund of about ₦2.1 billion was sitting in an account when he left office.

ADVERTISEMENT

His camp later identified the figure as ₦2,139,951,400.

He said the money had been released for a specific erosion-control project and that he resisted pressure to spend it before leaving office.

His argument was that government is a continuum and the incoming administration should inherit the money for the purpose for which it was released.

That claim should be verified against the relevant bank records, government accounts and audit documents.

But politically, it changes the argument. Obi is effectively saying: If you say I left liabilities, show the liabilities. If I say I left money, show what happened to it.

Why Obi is speaking now

The timing matters.Obi is now campaigning for the presidency again.

His Anambra record is therefore no longer simply a matter of historical debate. It is part of his argument for why Nigerians should trust him with the country’s finances.

Every claim about what he borrowed, spent, saved and handed over will be used against him or in his favour.

That is why the latest Anambra statement matters. His opponents can legitimately scrutinise his record.

But they should also be held to the same standard.

If a claim is about debt, the relevant loan documents should be produced. If it concerns contractors, the payment records should be examined. If it concerns money left in an account, the bank statement should settle it.

Nigeria does not need another decade of political arguments over numbers.The records should speak.

And that is ultimately why Obi is talking.

The issue is no longer just whether Anambra owes money.

It is whether the financial story Obi tells about his years as governor can survive documentary scrutiny.

For a presidential candidate whose political identity rests heavily on financial discipline, that is not a small question.

It is central to the case he is asking Nigerians to consider in 2027.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the latest debt dispute has reopened an old argument over Obi’s financial record in Anambra, with the former governor challenging his critics to distinguish legitimate long-term debt from unpaid obligations he says he had already cleared.