Anambra Govt Fires Back at Obi, Says No Such Fund Existed

The Anambra State Government has rejected claims by the presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi regarding the state’s debt profile and an alleged N2.13 billion ecological fund said to have been left in a First Bank account at the end of his administration.

The government, in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, on Wednesday, accused Obi of making “wild and verifiably false claims”.

Mefor said the response became necessary because the state government had continued to service debts allegedly incurred under previous administrations.

According to him, records of audited expenditures showed that Obi’s administration spent about $4.05 billion during its eight years in office, while eight external loans with a combined original value of $123.77 million remained outstanding when he left office on March 17, 2014.

The commissioner said the outstanding balance on the eight loans stood at $92.35 million as of June 30, 2026, equivalent to about N127.37 billion at the official exchange rate.

According to the government, the loans included projects on malaria control, Fadama development, healthcare, education, erosion and watershed management, community development and value-chain development.

Mefor said the state government was not opposed to borrowing where such funds were used for “bankable projects and human capital development,” adding that the present administration had continued to service the inherited obligations.

He also disputed Obi’s claim that his administration had cleared inherited salary, pension and gratuity arrears.

The commissioner said the current government had so far paid about N22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears owed to retired state and local government workers and teachers, while some legacy obligations allegedly dating back to the Obi administration remained unsettled.

He specifically cited salary arrears owed to workers of the defunct Water Corporation, saying the present administration had negotiated a settlement and paid the first two of three agreed instalments.

Mefor also alleged that 16 months of salary arrears owed to primary school teachers under the local government system had been verified during Obi’s administration, but only five months were paid.

On the disputed ecological fund, the commissioner said Obi claimed that his administration left more than N2.13 billion in First Bank account number 2018779464 at the UNIZIK branch in Awka when he left office.

Mefor, however, said the state government obtained a certified statement of the account covering its transactions from inception to date.

He said the account was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account and not an ecological fund account.

“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.

The commissioner therefore challenged Obi to explain where the alleged N2.13 billion was kept, insisting that the state’s records did not support the former governor’s claim.

Mefor further dismissed as “phantom” the N75 billion savings or investment figure associated with Obi’s administration, saying the state government did not intend to be drawn into what it described as “nebulous creative accounting.”

The commissioner said the state government remained focused on delivering services to residents, but maintained that it had a responsibility to respond to claims concerning the state’s finances in the interest of transparency and accountability.