The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has backed the Anambra State Government’s decision to fact-check claims made by former Governor Peter Obi about his tenure in office.
Keyamo, in a statement on his social media handle, also commended Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, for releasing what the minister described as facts about Obi’s administration.
The minister said it was hypocritical for critics to oppose scrutiny of Obi’s record as governor while continuing to examine the record of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from his tenure as Lagos State governor.
He noted that Tinubu and Obi are both seeking the presidency, arguing that their records in public office are therefore subject to scrutiny.
“Hypocrites everywhere! It is okay to continue to scrutinise the records of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Governor of Lagos State 27 years ago, but it is abomination to scrutinise Peter Obi’s record as Governor 19 years ago! Yet, they are both running for the same office,” Keyamo said.
He questioned why the Anambra State Government should be criticised for presenting information about Obi’s tenure at this time.
“How can someone question why the Anambra State Government is reeling out facts at this time?” he asked.
Keyamo argued that presidential candidates should be subjected to fact-checking when making claims about their previous records in public office.
“A Presidential candidate makes bogus claims as to his tenure as Governor, yet you don’t want him to be fact-checked? What type of hypocrisy is this?” he said.
The minister subsequently praised Soludo for the state government’s position, saying, “Governor Soludo, take a bow; take your flowers.”
The Anambra State Government had challenged former governor Peter Obi’s claim that he left the state without debt when he handed over power in 2014, saying eight external loans contracted during his administration still had an outstanding balance of N127.37bn as of June 30, 2026.
The government made the claim in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Commissioner for Information, Dr Law Mefor, in response to Obi’s challenge over claims that his administration left debts and other financial obligations for subsequent governments.
The dispute followed comments by the state Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, during a Voice of Ndi Anambra podcast that the state was still servicing loans inherited from previous administrations, with deductions made from its monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) funds.
Obi subsequently disputed the claims, insisting that he left office without outstanding salaries, pensions, gratuities or certified contractor obligations. He also challenged the state government to produce evidence of any debt owed by his administration.
Responding, the Anambra government said Obi’s administration left eight external borrowings, contracted between 2007 and 2013.
“As at the date HE Peter Obi left office (17th March 2014), there were and still are 8 different external borrowings his administration left for his successors.
“As of June 30, 2026, the total balance of such loans left by HE Peter Obi at the official exchange rate stood at N127.4bn,” the statement read.
According to the statement, the loans had a combined original value of $123.77m, while the outstanding balance as of June 30, 2026, stood at $92.35m, equivalent to N127.37bn at the official exchange rate.
The government said the figures were based on records from the Debt Management Office.
The largest outstanding balance, according to the breakdown, was the State Education Programme Investment Project, contracted in July 2013.
The project had an outstanding balance of $37.34m, which the state valued at N51.50bn as of June 30, 2026, from an original loan amount of $48.33m.
The Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, also contracted in July 2013, had an outstanding balance of $34.86m, valued at N48.08bn, from an original $37.89m loan.
Other loans listed by the government included the Third National Fadama Development Project, with an outstanding balance of $4.38m; the Community and Social Development Project, $3.70m; and the Malaria Control Booster Project, $4.48m.
The list also included an additional financing for the Malaria Control Booster Project, with an outstanding balance of $3.17m; the Value Chain Development Project, $2.38m; and the Health System Development Project II Additional Financing, $2.04m.
The government said the figures showed that while Obi may have left office without a conventional “debt stock” in the sense he described, financial obligations from loans contracted during his administration continued to be serviced after his departure.
It added that the existence of debt was not necessarily negative when borrowed funds were used for “bankable projects and human capital development.”
The statement, however, criticised the condition of public infrastructure and social services it said Obi left behind, including water schemes, public schools, hospitals, roads and insecurity.
“Of course, no government will ever finish the work of development. HE Peter Obi still left a state without any functioning urban or rural water schemes;
“Increasing insecurity and increased poverty, ostensibly dead public schools and dead public hospitals with grossly inadequate teachers and medical personnel (indeed 44 per cent of all communities in Anambra, 78 out of 179) did not have any public primary schools (and this administration is only beginning to close the gap), deficient road infrastructure with huge urban slums, etc.
“Only about 27 per cent of Anambra residents patronized public health institutions because of poor quality and non-functionality (he even admitted abandoning public health system at the recent NBA conference).
Ecological Fund Dispute
The government also disputed Obi’s claim that he left more than N2.13bn in an ecological fund account at First Bank, UNIZIK Branch, Awka.
Obi had said the money was released shortly before the end of his tenure for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis and that he left it intact for his successor.
He identified a First Bank account and challenged anyone disputing his claim to provide evidence to the contrary.
However, the Anambra government said a certified statement of the account showed that it was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account and not an ecological fund account.
