The controversy over Peter Obi’s financial record as Anambra State governor has taken a new turn, with the state government releasing records it says show that his administration contracted $123.7 million in external loans between 2007 and 2013.
The disclosure has shifted the dispute from competing claims over whether Obi left Anambra indebted to a debate over specific loans, their purposes and the portion of the liabilities that remains outstanding. PREMIUM TIMES reported Wednesday that the state government put the outstanding balance at $92.35 million, equivalent to N127.37 billion as of June 30, 2026.
According to the records released by the Anambra Government, the loans were tied to eight projects, including malaria control, FADAMA development, health-system development, education investment and erosion and watershed management.
The Commissioner for Information, Law Mefor, said the figures were compiled from the latest debt position reported by the Debt Management Office, arguing that the disclosure was intended to establish the government’s version of the state’s financial obligations rather than engage in political exchanges with Obi. The DMO maintains an official database of sub-national debt positions.
But Obi has maintained that he did not leave Anambra owing salaries, pensions, gratuities, contractors or suppliers when he left office in 2014. He also said he left more than N75 billion in savings or investments for the state and challenged the Soludo administration to disprove his claim.
Mefor also disputed Obi’s claim concerning outstanding workers’ entitlements, alleging that the Soludo administration had paid about N22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears while still dealing with what it described as legacy liabilities. The commissioner cited alleged arrears involving workers of the defunct Water Corporation and primary-school teachers, claims which form part of the state government’s broader challenge to Obi’s account of his financial record.
The dispute has also expanded to the identity of an account Obi cited in relation to an alleged N2.1 billion ecological fund and his claimed N75 billion savings. Mefor said certified account records obtained by the state identified the First Bank account as an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account and disputed the presence of the amounts claimed by the former governor.
The latest disclosure therefore leaves two sharply different accounts on record: Obi says he left office without the debts being alleged against him and with substantial funds saved for Anambra, while the state government says loan documents and other financial records contradict that position. The claims and counterclaims were reported by PREMIUM TIMES in its September 16, 2026 report on the release of the loan records.
