Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Presidency has said Nigerians should expect more records about the tenure of former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi in the coming days, escalating a dispute over the financial legacy of his eight-year administration as the 2027 presidential campaign intensifies.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, said in a post on his X handle on Friday that the records released so far were only the beginning. “This is only testing the microphone, more records to come out in the coming days. He loves records, we would answer in kind. No insults, vitriol or hate speech; just his record. Selah,” Bwala wrote. He accused Obi of taking loans while serving as Governor of Anambra State between 2006 and 2014 and subsequently denying it. “They sit in the studio fighting government for collecting loans, only for them to hear that their hero collected loans in Anambra and lied about it,” he said. Bwala also claimed that Obi’s campaign promises should be assessed against his record in office, saying his surrogates were “dumbfounded at the revelation about his loan claim”.
The Presidency’s intervention follows the release of financial records by the Anambra State Government, which alleged that eight external loans contracted during Obi’s tenure remained outstanding when he left office on March 17, 2014. The Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Dr Law Mefor, said records from the Debt Management Office showed the outstanding balance on the facilities stood at about N127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026, calculated at the official exchange rate. He said the state continues to make debt-service payments, with deductions being made monthly from Anambra’s Federation Account Allocation Committee revenue. “A loan is a loan, and whether it is sovereign or not, even an interest-free loan is still a loan. The FAAC allocations to Anambra State are being deducted every month to service the separate loans taken by the Peter Obi administration,” Mefor said.
Mefor disclosed that monthly deductions from the state’s FAAC allocations were servicing the loans, and that the external facilities attributed to Obi’s administration amounted to $123.77 million. He argued that the outstanding obligations should form part of any assessment of the former governor’s financial record. “So Obi had the opportunity to either take or not to take. So if you take, you take the responsibility,” he said, citing Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s decision not to participate in the Nigeria CARES loan from the World Bank as evidence that states had discretion over participation. “The point I’m trying to make is simple: he took loans, and he said he didn’t take”.
Obi has rejected the claims. In a statement on X, he described them as “completely false,” saying his administration cleared more than N35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears dating back several years and handed over the state without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity obligations. “At the point of handover, the state owed nothing in salaries, gratuities, or pensions, nor did we owe anything to any contractor for projects duly executed and certified,” Obi said. He specifically disputed the claim concerning a N2 billion ecological fund, saying the money was released shortly before he left office for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis and was left untouched in a First Bank account. Obi challenged the state government to produce evidence contradicting his account, vowing to quit the 2027 presidential race if it could establish that he left the state in debt.
The financial dispute has become increasingly entangled with the political contest. On Thursday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, challenged Obi to quit the 2027 race if the debt claims were proven. “The evidence is clear. If a small, homogenous state like Anambra could not be transformed despite $4.05 billion in spending and massive borrowing, how can the same manager promise to fix a complex federation of 36 states and the FCT?” Onanuga wrote. “Mr Obi’s eight years were an unmitigated failure, now masked by revisionism. He should desist from deceiving Nigerians with sanctimonious sermons”. Minister of Aviation Festus Keyamo also weighed in, saying it was hypocritical to scrutinise Tinubu’s Lagos tenure while rejecting checks on Obi’s Anambra administration.
Obi’s camp has responded with documents and counter-claims. The National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement, Yunusa Tanko, said Obi voluntarily released his Anambra handover records to the public and challenged those disputing the figures to verify bank records. “Nobody asked His Excellency, Mr Peter Obi, to present facts about his handing over. He did willingly and openly to the people,” Tanko said. He urged critics to verify the bank records and watch the handover video, insisting that officials confirmed the money was in the state’s bank account. Obi’s former Secretary to the State Government, Oseloka Obaze, has also come forward to back the handover note, testifying to the funds transferred to the Obiano administration.
The dispute has drawn reactions from across the political spectrum. Abia State Governor Alex Otti and former World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala have defended Obi, while former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is contesting the 2027 presidency on the platform of the African Democratic Congress, urged the Tinubu government to ensure Obi’s safety. The Presidency, through its officials, has framed the scrutiny of Obi’s record as a legitimate exercise in accountability. “No insults, vitriol or hate speech; just his record,” Bwala said, describing the Presidency’s approach as evidence-based.
The dispute’s timing is politically significant. The 2027 presidential election is less than four months away, with the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, 2027. Obi is seeking the presidency on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, with Rabiu Kwankwaso as his running mate. The Obi-Kwankwaso Movement unveiled a 59-member presidential campaign council on Friday, as the NDC intensifies preparations for the contest. Meanwhile, Governor Soludo has endorsed President Tinubu for a second term and declared that his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, will not field a presidential candidate. The debt dispute has therefore become a proxy battle in a wider political contest over Anambra’s votes and the credibility of Obi’s record as a public official.
For now, both sides remain entrenched. The Anambra government says the deductions continue and the loans remain outstanding. Obi’s camp says the handover documents prove otherwise and accuses the state government of fabricating evidence to damage his campaign. The Debt Management Office, which both sides cite, has not issued a public statement reconciling the competing figures. The Presidency, meanwhile, has signalled that it intends to sustain the scrutiny, with Bwala promising that more records would follow. As the campaign enters its final months, the battle over Obi’s Anambra legacy is likely to remain at the centre of Nigeria’s political debate, with each side presenting its version of what happened when Obi left office in March 2014. Whether the Presidency’s promised records will resolve the dispute or deepen it remains to be seen, but the political stakes could hardly be higher.
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