‘I did not borrow or issue bond for Anambra’, Obi challenges $123.77m debt claim
Former Anambra State Governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has rejected the description of $123.77 million in external financing as loans he left behind for the state, saying he neither approached any financial institution to borrow funds nor issued a bond on behalf of Anambra during his tenure.
Obi made the clarification on Friday in a post on his X handle while responding to the controversy over external borrowings linked to development projects implemented during his administration. The Anambra State Government had said eight external facilities associated with projects undertaken during Obi’s tenure had a combined contracted value of $123.77 million, with $92.35 million outstanding as of June 30, 2026, based on figures from the Debt Management Office.
But Obi argued that the figures should not be treated as a single debt incurred by his administration. He said the state government must distinguish between the total amount approved for multiyear development programmes, the amount actually drawn by Anambra during his tenure and the balance outstanding when he handed over on March 17, 2014. “The government has combined these distinct categories, added them together, and described the resulting US$123.77 million as ‘loans left by Peter Obi.’ That is an incorrect application of public-sector accounting,” he said.
Obi said the eight facilities were primarily World Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development development programmes negotiated by the Federal Government, with participating states accessing the funds through subsidiary arrangements. He maintained that they were not conventional commercial loans that he personally secured during his tenure, while acknowledging that the state had repayment responsibilities under the respective programmes. “Regarding the multilateral funding inaccurately described as ‘debt owed by Peter Obi’ in Anambra State, I wish to state unequivocally: As Governor of Anambra State, I did not approach any financial institution to borrow funds or issue a bond on behalf of the state,” Obi said.
He further cited the then Director-General of the DMO, Abraham Nwankwo, who, according to Obi, declared at his farewell ceremony that he was the only state governor during Nwankwo’s 10 years in office who had not approached him for a loan facility. The former governor also questioned the figures attributed to Anambra’s external debt, citing DMO records which he said showed that the state’s external debt was about $18 million when he assumed office in March 2006, approximately $30 million when he left office in March 2014 and about $45.15 million by December 31, 2014.
He therefore challenged the state government to explain how it could describe $123.77 million as facilities inherited from his administration when, according to the DMO figures he cited, Anambra’s external debt stood at about $30 million when he left office. Obi also said his administration left no unpaid salaries, gratuities or pensions and no verified debts owed to contractors or suppliers who had completed work that the government had certified.
