The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has clarified that he did not owe salaries, pensions, gratuities or any money during the period he was Governor of Anambra State.
Obi challenged Governor Chukwuma Soludo to produce evidence that he left debts owed to contractors, suppliers, workers or pensioners when he left office.
The push back by Obi is coming after Soludo’s administration said it is still servicing loans obtained by previous administrations, including his tenure and that of former Governor Willie Obiano.
Diaspora Digital Media reported that Mr. Izuchukwu Okafor, commissioner for finance in Anambra, while speaking on ‘Voice of Ndi Anambra Podcast’, said deductions were still being made from Anambra’s monthly federal allocation to service loans inherited from past administrations.
“Every month during our FAAC meetings, when you see the schedule of FAAC, you will notice there are substantial, significant deductions from our own FAAC because of loans previously borrowed by previous administrations,” Okafor said.
“These loans were borrowed during the time of Peter Obi and Willie Obiano and other past governors.”
The commissioner also said the Soludo administration had not borrowed from any commercial bank since assuming office and had reduced the state’s debt by more than 83 per cent.
“It is on record that this Soludo government has not borrowed a kobo from any commercial bank since the inception of this administration. Our domestic debt as of today is near zero balance,” he said.
According to Okafor, deductions from the state’s federal allocation are still being made to service external obligations, including loans obtained from the World Bank and other financial institutions.
He also disclosed that the state recently repaid a loan obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme.
The commissioner said the repayment of inherited debts had created more fiscal space for the state to fund development projects.
“In a nutshell, we have been able to create more fiscal space for Anambra State by paying off the backlog of numerous debts inherited from previous governments, starting from the time of Peter Obi,” he added.
Meanwhile, Peter Obi has refuted the claims linking his administration to outstanding debts, challenging the state government to identify anyone who was owed by his administration when he left office.
“13 years ago I left office as Governor. On the day I left the office, I was not owing any pension, salaries and gratuities.. I didn’t owe any money that the Anambra State Government was supposed to pay. I did not owe a single supplier or contractor. If you find even one person I owed, I will end my 2027 campaign today,” Obi said.
The former governor served as Anambra State governor from 2006 to 2014 before handing over to Obiano.
