The presidency has responded to the ongoing dispute between former Anambra State Governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate Peter Obi and the Anambra State Government regarding the state’s financial liabilities.
In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, noted that Obi had previously claimed to have left Anambra without debt and pledged to exit the presidential race if that claim was disproved.
Onanuga stated that the Anambra State Government has now presented facts and figures alleging liabilities tied to Obi’s tenure, challenging the former governor to honor his pledge and withdraw from the contest.
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.”
In response, he said, the Anambra State Government has made allegations regarding liabilities purportedly left by the previous governor’s administration.
“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 ball is back in his court. Will he follow through on his threat by quitting the race?” he asked.
The statement came after the Anambra State Government denied on Tuesday that Obi’s administration had left behind inherited debts, such as a ₦2 billion ecological fund, contractor liabilities, and unpaid salaries, gratuities, and pensions.
Backstory…
The Anambra government on Wednesday released details of external debt allegedly inherited from the administration of Peter Obi, the state’s former governor.
Anambra State Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor had said on Monday that the state government was still repaying loans incurred by previous administrations, including those of former governors Peter Obi and Willie Obiano.
Obi later responded to the commissioner, saying he left office without any outstanding liabilities in the state.
He added that his administration left N2.1 billion in the ecological fund and did not owe contractors, workers or pensioners.
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