Soludo Administration Unveils Records Alleging Ex-Governor Incurred Eight Foreign Facilities Totalling $123.77m
State Disowns First Bank Account 2018779464, Insisting Certified Statements Disprove Claimed ₦2.13bn Ecological Balance
Obi Vows To End 2027 Presidential Campaign If Indebtedness Allegations Are Established
The Anambra State Government has released official financial records asserting that former governor Peter Obi exited office leaving behind eight external loan facilities amounting to $123.77 million, with an outstanding balance standing at ₦127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026.
The disclosures, issued on Wednesday by the Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, escalated an intense fiscal dispute over Obi’s widely promoted debt-free legacy as governor between 2006 and 2014.
Mefor disclosed that while Obi oversaw aggregate public expenditure converted to $4.05 billion—estimated at roughly ₦5.4 trillion at prevailing official exchange rates—the state continues to suffer substantial monthly deductions from its Federation Account allocation to service foreign borrowings contracted under his watch.
According to the state government’s debt breakdown, the eight multilateral loan facilities were acquired for programmes including the State Education Programme Investment Project, Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, Malaria Control Booster Project, Third National Fadama Development Project, Health System Development Project II, and the Community and Social Development Project.
The commissioner highlighted that the State Education Programme Investment Project carried the largest outstanding exposure at $37.34 million, followed by NEWMAP at $34.86 million and the Malaria Control Booster Project at $4.48 million, leaving an unpaid foreign principal and interest balance of $92.35 million as of June 30, 2026.
The state government also directly disputed Obi’s claim that his administration handed over an unencumbered ₦2.13 billion ecological fund in First Bank account number 2018779464 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University branch, Awka.
Mefor maintained that a certified printout obtained by the state government established that the repository was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Account rather than a dedicated ecological fund, adding that banking ledgers show no record of such an inflow or balance since the account opened in 2011.
The information commissioner further alleged that Obi’s administration certified 16 months of salary arrears for primary school teachers but disbursed only five months before handing over, leaving the current administration to pay out more than ₦22 billion in inherited gratuity backlogs.
Obi, the 2027 presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, countered the allegations, insisting that his administration never incurred commercial bank borrowings and left zero arrears in salaries, pensions, gratuities, or certified contractor invoices upon his departure on March 17, 2014.
Obi maintained that the ₦2.13 billion ecological allocation was received three months before the expiration of his tenure to remediate active erosion ravaging Oko and Umuchiana, stating that he preserved the funds intact for his successor, Willie Obiano, and challenging any authority with contradictory evidence to halt his presidential bid.
The controversy originated on Monday when State Finance Commissioner Izuchukwu Okafor revealed that the incumbent administration has avoided fresh commercial loans while managing statutory deductions for inherited obligations, prompting a fierce contest of records between the former governor and the current administration.
