Former Anambra State Governor and presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has reiterated that he left office without outstanding salaries, gratuities or pensions owed by the state government, as well as unpaid obligations to contractors whose completed works had been certified and verified.
Obi made the clarification during an interview on Arise TV on Thursday while responding to renewed claims concerning loans and other liabilities allegedly linked to his administration.
He maintained that he did not personally approach any financial institution to borrow money or issue bonds on behalf of Anambra State during his eight years as governor.
“I, Mr Peter Obi, did not approach any financial institution to borrow money or issue bonds on behalf of Anambra State.
He further stated that his administration had settled payments due to workers by the time he handed over power in March 2014.
“On the day I left office, the government of Anambra State, which I served, was not owing any salary, gratuity or pension to those scheduled to be paid by the state government,” he stated.
“We were not owing any contractor or supplier who had executed his job, certified and verified. Not one,” he added.
Obi explained that obligations relating to contractors whose projects were still incomplete could not be regarded in the same way as debts owed for work that had already been completed, inspected and certified. He said payment depended on the terms and conditions contained in the relevant contracts.
His comments come amid an ongoing disagreement between him and the Anambra State Government over loans and other liabilities attributed to previous administrations. The state government has said Anambra is still servicing loans associated with past administrations, including Obi’s, while records released by the state put the outstanding balance of eight external loans at about N127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026.
Obi, however, has disputed the characterisation of those facilities as debts personally obtained by him, arguing that some were concessionary development funds obtained by the Federal Government and subsequently made available to qualifying states for specific projects.
The former governor also said he did not view the disagreement as a personal dispute with Governor Chukwuma Soludo, whom he described as the governor of his state and said he respected.
Obi further appealed to state governors to provide a level playing field for other presidential candidates to campaign ahead of the 2027 elections, arguing that Nigerians should be allowed to freely determine who they want to lead the country.
He also urged political leaders to concentrate on issues affecting citizens, particularly the economic difficulties being experienced across the country, rather than allowing political disagreements to become distractions.
