The Presidency has challenged former Anambra State Governor and presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, over conflicting claims concerning the financial liabilities allegedly left by his administration.
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made the challenge in a post on X on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, following an exchange between Obi and the Anambra State Government over the state’s finances.
Onanuga said Obi had previously maintained that he left Anambra without outstanding debts and pledged to stop campaigning if anyone could prove otherwise.
According to the presidential aide, the Anambra State Government has now presented figures which it said showed that the former administration left unpaid obligations involving workers of the state Water Corporation, teachers, pensions and gratuities, among other liabilities.
Onanuga consequently asked Obi to honour his pledge if the state government’s claims were established.
The development followed Obi’s rejection of allegations by the Anambra State Government that his administration left behind financial obligations, including contractor debts, unpaid salaries, pensions and gratuities, as well as liabilities connected to an ecological fund.
Obi had maintained that his administration cleared more than ₦35 billion in inherited gratuities and arrears before leaving office and did not owe workers outstanding salaries, pensions or gratuities.
He also disputed the government’s claim regarding an ecological fund, stating that more than ₦2.13 billion remained untouched in a First Bank account intended for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion project.
However, Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, rejected Obi’s explanation, saying the account referenced by the former governor was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account and not an ecological fund account.
Mefor said the state government had obtained a certified printout of the account and claimed that it had never recorded the amount cited by Obi as either an inflow or balance since the account was opened in 2011.
Obi, in response to the controversy, had challenged anyone capable of disproving his account of the state’s finances, declaring that he would stop campaigning if his claims were shown to be inaccurate.
The latest exchange has further escalated the dispute over the financial position of Anambra State under the previous administration, with both sides maintaining opposing accounts of the state’s outstanding liabilities.
