Peter Obi, Obiano & The Anambra Debt Question: What The Former Governor Said He Met
By IFEOMA IZUCHUKWU
THE latest dispute over Anambra State’s debt has revived a financial controversy that dates back to the 2014 transfer of power from Peter Obi to Willie Obiano.
Obi says he left Anambra without debt and with more than ₦75 billion in savings.
Obiano’s administration gave a different account.
It said it inherited ₦185 billion in current and contingent liabilities, while the cash balance stood at about ₦9 billion.
More than a decade later, the competing claims have returned to public attention.
A Fresh Political Dispute
The latest argument followed comments by Anambra Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor.
Okafor said the Soludo administration was still repaying loans and other obligations incurred by previous administrations, including those of Obi and Obiano.
Obi rejected the claim that he left Anambra indebted.
He also said his administration cleared salaries, pensions, gratuities and other obligations that were due at the time of handover.
In a subsequent response, he maintained that he left more than ₦75 billion in savings.
The former governor also challenged the current administration to produce evidence to contradict his account.
The Anambra Government responded by publishing loan records.
According to the state, eight external loans contracted between 2007 and 2013 totalled $123.7 million.
It said the outstanding balance had fallen to $92.35 million by June 2026, which it valued at about ₦127.37 billion.
Those figures have become part of the current political dispute, although they do not by themselves establish the amount that was outstanding at the precise point Obi handed over to Obiano.
What Obiano Reportedly Inherited
The earlier account provides a different picture of the 2014 transition.
In 2015, Obiano said he inherited ₦185 billion in liabilities from Obi’s administration.
His then-Secretary to the State Government, Professor Solo Chukwulobelu, provided more details.
He said the figure covered current and contingent liabilities.
Some of those obligations, he explained, related to roads and other projects awarded by the previous administration.
The liabilities would become payable as the projects progressed and obligations crystallised.
Chukwulobelu therefore described the ₦185 billion as the total exposure if the liabilities were to crystallise at once.
How Much Cash Was Available?
The cash position also became a point of disagreement.
Chukwulobelu said the state had about ₦9 billion in its bank balance when Obiano took over.
Obiano later repeated the figure during a Channels Television interview.
He said Obi left ₦9 billion in cash and ₦25.6 billion in financial assets, including sovereign wealth funds and shares in other banks.
That brought the value of the two categories to about ₦35.5 billion, according to Obiano’s account.
However, he said Obi had also issued cheques worth more than ₦15 billion before leaving office.
That detail became part of Obiano’s explanation of the financial position he encountered.
The Role of Long-Term Investments
The debate was not limited to cash and liabilities.
Victor Umeh, who was then the national chairman of APGA, said Obi had invested some funds in dollar-denominated bonds.
He argued that the investments could not immediately provide cash for the incoming administration because of their long maturity periods.
Some, he said, would mature as late as 2030.
Umeh nevertheless disputed Obi’s claim that he left ₦75 billion in savings.
He said the figure did not appear in the handover documentation.
His comments must also be viewed in their political context.
At the time, Umeh supported Obiano’s re-election bid while Obi backed Oseloka Obaze of the PDP in the 2017 governorship election.
What the Current Records Add
The latest controversy has introduced additional information into the debate.
The Anambra Government says the loans linked to Obi’s administration financed projects in areas including malaria control, FADAMA development, healthcare, education and erosion management.
The state has also said the Soludo administration has reduced the overall debt burden substantially while continuing to repay inherited obligations.
Obi, however, maintains that the debt narrative does not accurately represent the financial position he left behind.
That leaves several distinct questions.
What was Anambra’s actual cash balance at handover?
Which liabilities had already crystallised?
Which obligations were contingent on unfinished projects?
What financial assets did the state hold?
And which loans were outstanding when Obi transferred power?
Why the Handover Records Matter
The controversy shows the difficulty of comparing political claims about government finances without examining the underlying documents.
Cash balances, investments, project commitments, contingent liabilities and external loans are different components of a government’s financial position.
They cannot automatically be treated as interchangeable figures.
For that reason, the 2014 handover documents remain central to understanding the competing accounts.
The current dispute has brought those old questions back into the spotlight.
What began as a disagreement over Obi’s financial record has now become part of a broader debate over how Anambra’s public finances have been managed across successive administrations.
