ABUJA, NIGERIA — The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has demanded that Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate Peter Obi withdraw from the 2027 presidential race if he cannot disprove claims that his administration left financial liabilities behind in Anambra State.
The demand was made on Monday by the council’s spokesman, Dele Alake, who is also the Minister of Solid Minerals, following fresh disclosures by the Anambra State Government on loans it said were obtained during Obi’s eight-year tenure as governor. Alake said Obi had repeatedly presented his administration as financially prudent and had challenged his critics to prove that he left debts behind when he handed over power in March 2014.
According to the APC campaign council, the latest records released by the Anambra Government have now raised questions over that claim. The state government said Obi’s administration contracted external loans amounting to $123.77 million during his tenure. It further stated that eight external borrowing facilities connected to projects in areas such as healthcare, education, erosion control, and malaria intervention remained outstanding after Obi left office. The outstanding balance on the loans was put at about $92.35 million as of June 30, 2026, valued at approximately N127.4 billion at the official exchange rate.
The development has intensified the political disagreement between Obi and the Anambra State Government over the financial position of the state when he left office. Obi has consistently rejected the allegation that he left Anambra with unpaid financial obligations. In a statement issued earlier in the dispute, he said his administration inherited historical arrears and worked to clear them during his tenure.
“We systematically liquidated historical gratuities and arrears dating back several years, amounting to over N35 billion,” Obi said. He also maintained that his administration did not leave unpaid salaries, pensions, or gratuities when it handed over power. “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.
Obi also challenged anyone with contrary evidence to produce it. “If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning,” he said. The challenge subsequently became central to the APC campaign council’s latest demand.
Alake argued that the records presented by the Anambra Government amounted to evidence that Obi’s administration left liabilities behind. The council said borrowing by a government was not necessarily wrong, particularly where the funds were used for development projects. However, it questioned Obi’s claim that he left the state without a debt burden.
“Borrowing is not injudicious if used for development. But for a man who prides himself on being austere and has frequently claimed he left the state with a clean bill of health, the revelations confirmed what has long been held,” the APC PCC said.
The council also referred to the eight external loan facilities listed by the Anambra Government. The projects associated with the loans include the Malaria Control Booster Project, Third National Fadama Development Project, Health System Development Project, State Education Programme Investment Project, Community and Social Development Project, Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, and Value Chain Development Project.
The Anambra Government has maintained that it is not opposed to borrowing where loans are used for legitimate development purposes. Its argument is that the existence of the loans contradicts Obi’s claim that he left no debt obligations for subsequent administrations. The state government also said the loans were still being serviced, with deductions still being made from the state’s monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee revenue.
Another major point of disagreement is the alleged N2.13 billion ecological fund which Obi said he left untouched for his successor. Obi said the money was released shortly before he left office and was meant to address the erosion crisis in Oko and Umuchiana. He maintained that he deliberately refused to spend the money because it was tied to a specific project, and that the funds remained in a First Bank account when he handed over power.
The Anambra Government, however, disputed the claim. Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, said the account identified by Obi was not an ecological fund account but an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account. He said the state obtained a certified statement of the account and found no record of an N2.13 billion balance or inflow from 2011, when the account was opened, to date.
The APC campaign council also brought up an earlier dispute concerning salaries owed to workers of the Anambra State Water Corporation. Alake cited a memorandum dated April 25, 2006, which he said was written by Obi’s then Chief of Staff, Chuks Ileogbunam. The memo reportedly appealed to the governor to address the N15 million monthly salary obligation owed to Water Corporation workers.
The council ultimately urged Obi to abandon his presidential ambition in line with the pledge he made to withdraw if evidence showed that his administration left liabilities behind. “Indeed, if Peter Obi has any honour, he must resign from the 2027 presidential race forthwith, in keeping with his promise to end his run if it is proven that his administration left behind liabilities in Anambra,” the council said.
Obi’s campaign has not yet responded to the APC’s latest demand. The former governor has consistently dismissed allegations of financial impropriety during his tenure, and his supporters have described the attacks as politically motivated attempts to damage his reputation ahead of the 2027 election.
