Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has challenged the state government to provide evidence that his administration left unpaid debts when he left office.
Obi said he would end his 2027 presidential campaign if the government could identify even one person or organisation that he owed.
His comments came after the Anambra State Government said it was still repaying loans inherited from previous administrations.
Anambra Government Says It Is Repaying Old Loans
The controversy started after Anambra State Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, discussed the state’s debt position.
Okafor said the government of Governor Chukwuma Soludo had not taken any commercial bank loan since coming into office.
He said, however, that the state was still making payments on loans obtained by previous administrations.
According to the commissioner, some of those loans dated back to the administrations of Peter Obi and Willie Obiano.
He said deductions were still being made from Anambra’s monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee funds to service the loans.
Peter Obi Rejects the Claim
Obi has rejected the suggestion that he left Anambra with unpaid obligations.
In his response, the former governor said he left office without owing salaries, pensions or gratuities.
He also said he did not leave unpaid bills for suppliers or contractors.
Obi challenged the state government to provide evidence if it believed otherwise.
He said that if the government could find even one person he owed when he left office, he would stop his 2027 presidential campaign.
Obi Calls for Evidence
Obi said he left office nearly 13 years ago.
He argued that the issue should be settled with financial records and evidence rather than accusations.
The former governor also maintained that his administration left the state in a strong financial position.
His latest comments have added a new dimension to the long-running disagreement between him and the Soludo administration over Anambra’s finances.
Soludo Government Says Debt Has Fallen
While defending the current administration’s financial record, Commissioner Okafor said Anambra had reduced its overall debt burden by more than 83 per cent.
He also said the government had cleared several inherited obligations.
These included unpaid contracts, gratuity arrears and pension arrears.
Okafor said the state’s domestic debt was now close to zero.
He added that some external loans were still being repaid through deductions from federal allocations.
The Dispute Is About More Than One Loan
The disagreement is not simply about whether Anambra has outstanding loans.
The bigger question is which administration incurred the obligations and what those loans were used for.
A government can inherit a loan without personally taking it.
That is why financial records are important in determining when each obligation was created and which administration approved it.
The Anambra government says some of the loans being serviced date back to previous administrations.
Obi, on the other hand, says he did not leave unpaid obligations to people or businesses when he handed over power.
What Happens Next?
The latest exchange is likely to keep Anambra’s financial history in the political spotlight.
Peter Obi is preparing for the 2027 presidential election, while Soludo remains the governor of Anambra State.
Both men have publicly discussed the state’s finances at different times.
For now, the two sides have presented different accounts of the financial obligations connected to previous administrations.
Further clarification will depend on the release and examination of official financial records.
Until then, Obi’s challenge and the government’s claim remain competing positions in an ongoing political dispute.