The Anambra State Government has renewed its challenge to former Governor Peter Obi over his eligibility to continue his bid for the 2027 presidency, accusing him of failing to fulfil past promises concerning workers’ salaries and the state’s debt profile.
The latest exchange was triggered by a document the state government released, which it said showed that salary arrears existed during Obi’s tenure as governor.
In a post on its official X account on Tuesday, the state’s New Media Office posed the question, “When will Peter Obi quit presidential campaign?”
The government recalled two commitments it attributed to Obi: that he would withdraw from the presidential contest if it was established that he left Anambra in debt, and that he would resign as governor if workers were not paid their salaries as and when due.
The state government alleged that Obi failed to meet both commitments.
It stated, “He (Obi) vowed to quit the presidential race if proven he left Anambra in debt.
“As governor, he vowed to resign if workers weren’t paid on time. He broke both. He left office in 2014 with heavier arrears.”
To support its claim concerning salary arrears, the government published a letter dated April 25, 2006, which it said was signed by Chuks Iloegbunam, who was then Obi’s Chief of Staff.
The authenticity of the document could not immediately be independently established.
The letter, titled “GUBERNATORIAL PREROGATIVE,” contained what it described as a “special appeal” to Obi to clear outstanding salaries owed workers of the Anambra State Water Corporation.
Among the issues raised was the corporation’s monthly wage bill of approximately N15m and the fact that its workers had last received their salaries in February.
The letter appealed to the governor to intervene, stating, “Since it is Your Excellency’s unchanging desire to achieve a better future for our children and children’s children, please, Sir, bear in mind that officials of the Water Corporation also have children who are looking to your compassionate leadership. If the President listens with compassion to your appeals on behalf of the children of Anambra State, I am 200 percent sure that you will hearken to the cries of the children whose parents work for the Water Corporation and end their ordeal. Thank you most sincerely for that.
“The monthly salary of the Water Corporation comes to something around N15 million every month. Because you have a most busy schedule, I appeal to you to please include the Water Corporation in the league of Government parastatals that are paid through subventions. In this way, the workers will not come to Your Excellency’s office every month to distract your attention on account of unpaid salaries.”
The document also referred directly to a commitment contained in Obi’s campaign manifesto concerning the payment of workers.
It quoted the manifesto as pledging that the governor would resign “if there is any case where workers are not paid as and when due.”
The letter concluded with a further appeal to the governor: “Your Excellency, Water Corporation workers were last paid in February. Please rectify this anomaly so that you can forge ahead with the good work you are doing.”
However, the date of the letter is significant to the dispute. Obi had been sworn in as governor only about five weeks earlier, on March 17, 2006.
Consequently, the arrears referenced in the letter may have been inherited from the administration before him rather than accumulated during his tenure.
The state government nevertheless followed up its publication with another post, stating, “Peter Obi’s former Chief of Staff, Iloegbunam berated him.”
The latest development forms part of a broader disagreement between the Soludo administration and Obi over the financial position of Anambra at the end of his tenure in March 2014.
On September 17, the state government, through the Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Dr Law Mefor, issued a detailed statement titled “Gov Peter Obi and Record of Public Debt in Anambra: Facts Beyond Propaganda and Lies.”
The government alleged that Obi left behind external debts as well as outstanding salary, pension and gratuity obligations.
According to the statement, the outstanding balance of eight external loans contracted during Obi’s administration stood at N127.4bn as of June 30, 2026, based on the prevailing official exchange rate.
Mefor further claimed that Obi’s administration contracted $123.77m in external loans for projects covering areas such as malaria control, erosion management, education and healthcare.
He said the loans were still being serviced by the state government, with hundreds of millions of naira reportedly deducted monthly from Anambra’s federal allocation.
The commissioner also alleged that verified salary, pension and gratuity arrears involving retired teachers and Water Corporation workers were left behind at the end of Obi’s tenure.
He disputed Obi’s claim that his administration left more than ₦2.13bn in an ecological fund account at First Bank, UNIZIK branch, Awka, arguing that the account was actually an Internally Generated Revenue–Consolidated Revenue Account and had never contained the amount claimed.
Obi, who is the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, has rejected the state government’s allegations.
The former governor maintained that he left office without outstanding salaries, pensions, gratuities or obligations to contractors whose projects had been processed and certified.
He also said his administration had cleared more than ₦35bn in inherited gratuities and arrears.
Obi subsequently challenged the Anambra State Government to provide evidence supporting its claims, saying he would discontinue his 2027 presidential campaign if it could establish that he left debts or owed any contractor.
The issue later drew a response from President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who challenged Obi to honour the pledge and withdraw from the presidential race.
Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri Jnr, however, criticised the intervention, describing the Presidency as a “meddlesome interloper” and saying a group of former officials who served under Obi was preparing a comprehensive response to the allegations raised by the state government.
The disagreement over Anambra’s finances at the conclusion of Obi’s administration has resurfaced several times since the 2014 transition to Willie Obiano’s government and has now become part of the wider political exchanges surrounding the 2027 presidential contest.
(Ripples)
