The Presidency has challenged Peter Obi to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race if the Anambra State Government succeeds in proving that his administration left behind the financial liabilities it has alleged.
The challenge was issued by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, following a fresh exchange between Obi and the Anambra State Government over the state’s finances.
Onanuga said Obi had previously tied his political future to claims about the financial position of Anambra when he left office.
In a post on X on Wednesday, the presidential aide recalled Obi’s assertion that he handed over the state without outstanding debts and his promise to stop campaigning if anyone could establish otherwise.
Onanuga wrote, “Peter Obi claimed he left Anambra with a clean slate of debt and even threatened to quit the presidential race if his claims were proven otherwise.”
He said the latest response from the Anambra State Government had introduced figures and records that directly challenged Obi’s account of the state’s finances at the time he left office.
“Now, the Anambra government has confronted him with facts and figures showing he owed Water Corporation workers, teachers, and pension and gratuities, and had also borrowed for frivolous things,” Onanuga said.
The presidential aide then put the decision back to the former governor.
“The ball is back in his court. Will he follow through on his threat by quitting the race?” he asked.
Obi served as governor of Anambra before handing over power to Willie Obiano in March 2014.
He is now seeking to return to the presidential contest in 2027 as the candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress.
Politics Nigeria earlier reported that the Anambra State Government raised questions about financial obligations it said were inherited from previous administrations including Obi.
Obi responded by rejecting the allegations and insisting that his administration had cleared substantial liabilities before leaving office.
In his response, the former governor said his administration inherited several outstanding obligations but worked to settle them before the end of his tenure.
He said more than ₦35 billion was used to clear historical gratuities and arrears.
“We systematically liquidated historical gratuities and arrears dating back several years, amounting to over ₦35 billion.”
Obi also rejected the suggestion that his administration left unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities or certified contractor bills.
“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,” he said.
Another major point of disagreement is the alleged ₦2 billion ecological fund.
Obi said the money was released shortly before he left office for the Oko and Umuchiana erosion crisis.
According to him, he deliberately refused to spend the money because it was tied to a specific purpose.
“The ₦2 billion ecological fund in question was released barely three months before the end of my tenure for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis,” he said.
“Despite pressure to spend the money, I refused, insisting that it should be left for my successor because government is a continuum and the funds were tied to a specific project.”
Obi further claimed that the money remained untouched in a First Bank account.
“The money was therefore left 100 per cent intact in First Bank, in Account No. 2018779464, with a balance of over ₦2.13 billion,” he said.
He also maintained that funds reserved for specific projects were separate from the more than ₦75 billion in savings he said his administration left behind.
“It is important to stress that funds tied to specific projects or set aside for particular purposes were not even included in the over ₦75 billion in savings we left behind,” Obi said.
The Anambra State Government has since disputed that explanation.
Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, said the account identified by Obi was not an ecological fund account.
Mefor said the state government obtained a certified printout of the account covering its transactions from inception.
He maintained that the records did not show the ₦2.13 billion balance described by Obi.
“We have obtained a certified printout of the account from inception to date. The account is an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account, not an ecological fund account,” Mefor said.
He further stated, “From 2011 when the account was opened until date, there has never been any such amount—whether as inflow or balance—in the account.”
The commissioner consequently questioned the whereabouts of the money Obi said he left for the incoming administration.
The state government has also expanded its argument beyond the disputed ecological fund.
Mefor said eight external loans remained outstanding after Obi left office on March 17, 2014.
According to the figures released by the state government, the outstanding balance of the loans stood at ₦127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026, calculated at the official exchange rate.
The loans listed by the government include facilities connected to malaria control, the Fadama development programme, health system development, education investment, community and social development, erosion and watershed management and agricultural value chain development.
The government has also disputed Obi’s claim that there were no salary and gratuity arrears when he handed over.
Mefor said the Soludo administration had paid about ₦22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears, while alleging that some liabilities involving retired teachers and Water Corporation workers remained from earlier administrations.
He also alleged that 16 months of salary arrears for primary school teachers had been verified and certified under Obi’s administration, but only five months were paid.
