The Presidency has challenged former Anambra State Governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to honour his pledge to stop campaigning for the 2027 presidency if claims that his administration left financial liabilities in the state are established.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made the challenge on Wednesday in a post on X, following an escalating dispute between Obi and the Anambra State Government over the state’s financial records.
Onanuga recalled Obi’s claim that he handed over Anambra without outstanding debts and his pledge to stop campaigning if anyone could prove otherwise.
“Peter Obi claimed he left Anambra with a clean slate of debt and even threatened to quit the presidential race if his claims were proven otherwise,” Onanuga wrote.
The presidential aide said the Anambra State Government had now presented claims concerning liabilities allegedly left by Obi’s administration.
“Now, the Anambra government has confronted him with facts and figures showing he owed Water Corporation workers, teachers, and pension and gratuities, and had also borrowed for frivolous things,” he said.
Onanuga added, “The ball is back in his court. Will he follow through on his threat by quitting the race?”
The reaction followed a fresh response by the Anambra Government to Obi’s rejection of allegations that his administration left behind debts and other financial obligations.
Obi Defends His Record
Obi had maintained that his administration cleared more than N35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears and left office without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity obligations.
He also disputed claims concerning contractor liabilities, insisting that contractors whose projects had been executed and certified were not owed when he left office.
A major point of disagreement between Obi and the state government is an alleged N2.13 billion ecological fund.
Obi said the money was released shortly before the end of his tenure for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis but was deliberately left untouched for his successor because it was meant for the project.
He identified a First Bank account which he said contained more than N2.13 billion at the time of handover.
Obi also maintained that the money was separate from the more than N75 billion in savings he claimed his administration left behind.
Anambra Government Disputes Obi’s Claims
However, Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, disputed Obi’s account.
Mefor said the account identified by the former governor was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account and not an ecological fund account.
According to Mefor, the state government obtained a certified printout of the account and found no record of the N2.13 billion claimed by Obi.
“From 2011 when the account was opened until date, there has never been any such amount—whether as inflow or balance—in the account,” Mefor said.
The commissioner also disputed Obi’s wider account of the state’s financial position, alleging that outstanding loans and other liabilities remained after the former governor left office in March 2014.
Mefor further claimed that the current administration had settled inherited gratuity arrears involving retired state and local government workers and teachers.
Obi Challenges Critics To Produce Evidence
Obi has continued to challenge the Anambra Government and others disputing his account to provide documentary evidence to support their claims.
“If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning,” he said.
The controversy has now centred on competing accounts of Anambra’s financial position at the end of Obi’s tenure, including debts, savings, pension and salary arrears, contractor obligations and ecological funds.
The documentary records surrounding the disputed transactions are therefore expected to remain central to the ongoing political dispute as the 2027 general elections draw closer.
