Mujeeb Akindoyin
The Presidency on Wednesday challenged former Anambra State Governor and 2027 presidential aspirant, Mr Peter Obi, to honour an earlier pledge to withdraw from the presidential race if claims that he left office with unresolved financial liabilities are established.
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, made the call in a post on his verified X handle amid an escalating dispute between Obi and the Anambra State Government over the financial status of the state at the end of his administration in 2014.
PLATFORM TIMES reports that the controversy centres on allegations of unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities and other liabilities, as well as conflicting claims over funds allegedly left in government accounts by the former governor.
Onanuga recalled that Obi had repeatedly maintained that he handed over Anambra State without debt and had publicly vowed to quit politics if evidence to the contrary emerged.
“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,” Onanuga wrote.
According to him, the current Anambra administration had presented records which it said showed that Obi’s government left behind obligations to workers, teachers and pensioners.
The presidential aide further alleged that loans were obtained during Obi’s tenure for projects the state government now considered unnecessary.
“The ball is back in his court. Will he follow through on his threat by quitting the race?” Onanuga queried.
The challenge followed Obi’s rejection of claims that his administration left unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities and contractor debts.
The former governor had maintained that his administration cleared more than N35bn in outstanding gratuities and arrears before leaving office in March 2014.
Obi also disputed claims surrounding an alleged N2bn ecological fund, insisting that his administration left over N2.13bn in a First Bank account designated for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion-control project.
However, the Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Dr Law Mefor, faulted Obi’s position, saying the account referenced by the former governor was not an ecological fund account but the state’s Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account.
Mefor said the government had obtained certified bank records covering transactions in the account from its opening in 2011.
According to him, the records showed that the account never contained the amount claimed by Obi.
“From 2011 when the account was opened until date, there has never been any such amount whether as inflow or balance in the account,” Mefor said.
Obi had earlier challenged critics of his administration’s financial records to provide documentary evidence to contradict his claims.
“If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning,” the former governor had said.
The exchange has since triggered renewed political debate ahead of the 2027 general elections, with both sides insisting that their claims are backed by official records.
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