The Anambra State Government has challenged former governor and 2027 presidential candidate Peter Obi to withdraw from the presidential race, following its renewed allegations that his administration left unpaid salary obligations and other financial liabilities when he left office in 2014.
The state government made the challenge on Tuesday through a post by its New Media Office on X, asking, “When will Peter Obi quit presidential campaign?” It also released a letter dated April 25, 2006, which it said documented salary arrears during Obi’s tenure.
The development is the latest in an increasingly public dispute between the former governor and the current Anambra administration over the state’s finances at the end of Obi’s eight-year tenure.
According to the state government, Obi had previously pledged to withdraw from the presidential race if it was established that he left Anambra with debts or other outstanding liabilities. It also recalled an alleged commitment by Obi, while serving as governor, to resign if workers were not paid their salaries as and when due.
The government said the documents and records it has released contradict Obi’s assertion that he handed over the state without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity obligations.
The April 25, 2006, letter released by the government was allegedly signed by Chuks Iloegbunam, who was then Chief of Staff to Obi. The state government presented the document as evidence in support of its claim concerning salary arrears. However, the authenticity and context of the letter had not been independently established in the report, and efforts were ongoing to obtain Iloegbunam’s response.
Obi has consistently rejected the allegations.
In an earlier statement, the former governor said his administration systematically cleared historical gratuities and salary arrears amounting to more than N35bn. He maintained that when he left office on March 17, 2014, the state did not owe salaries, pensions, gratuities or contractors for duly executed and certified projects.
Obi has also challenged anyone who can establish otherwise to produce evidence, saying he would stop campaigning for the presidency if the claims were proven.
The controversy has extended beyond salary arrears to the state’s debt position.
The Anambra Government has alleged that Obi’s administration contracted eight external loans and that the outstanding balance of those borrowings stood at about N127.4bn as of June 30, 2026, based on the state’s interpretation of Debt Management Office records. The government has also alleged that some salary, pension and gratuity liabilities from the period remained unresolved.
Obi has disputed the government’s account, arguing that the existence of borrowings does not establish that he left the state in an irresponsible financial position. He has maintained that his administration left substantial savings and cleared inherited liabilities.
The former governor also disputed claims concerning more than N2bn allegedly set aside for an ecological intervention in the Oko/Umuchiana area. Obi said the funds were deliberately left untouched for his successor because they were tied to a specific project. The Anambra Government has rejected that explanation, saying the account identified by Obi was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account and that its certified records did not show the alleged amount as either an inflow or balance.
The dispute has also attracted political intervention.
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council on Monday called on Obi to honour his reported pledge to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race if evidence showed that he left Anambra with liabilities. Its spokesman, Dele Alake, cited the state’s claims concerning external borrowing and unpaid obligations.
The Presidency had similarly challenged Obi to respond to the allegations after the Anambra Government released its account of the state’s finances. Obi’s camp has maintained that the claims are false and said former officials who served under him were preparing a detailed response.
The latest exchange therefore remains a dispute over historical financial records, with the Anambra Government presenting documents and debt figures to support its allegations while Obi continues to reject the claims.
As the 2027 political season approaches, the controversy has increasingly become part of the wider debate over Obi’s record as Anambra governor and the competing interpretations of the state’s financial position when he left office in 2014. The claims and counterclaims remain subject to verification against official records and documentary evidence from the relevant period.
