Abuja – Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has insisted that he never borrowed money from any bank or financial institution, nor issued any bonds on behalf of the state, during his eight years in office.
Obi made the categorical declaration while appearing on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Thursday night, amid an ongoing dispute with the Anambra State Government under Governor Chukwuma Soludo over claims that his administration left behind outstanding external loans and other financial liabilities.
“Let me categorically state again: I, Mr Peter Obi, did not approach any financial institution to borrow money or issue bonds on behalf of Anambra State in the eight years I was in government,” Obi said.
He added that on the day he left office in March 2014, the state government was not owing any salary, gratuity or pension due for payment, nor any contractor or supplier whose completed work had been certified and verified.
The former governor was responding to figures released by the Anambra State Government, which attributed eight external loan facilities with an original value of about $123.77 million to projects linked to his tenure. The state put the outstanding balance at approximately $92.35 million, valued at around ₦127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026, based on Debt Management Office (DMO) records.
Obi rejected the characterisation of these facilities as debts he personally incurred or left behind. He explained that many were concessionary multilateral development programmes, primarily involving the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), negotiated by the Federal Government.
Participating states, including Anambra, accessed the funds through subsidiary arrangements rather than through commercial bank loans initiated by his administration.
He cited the State Education Programme Investment Project (SEPIP) as an example, noting that Anambra, Ekiti and Bauchi were selected for the support because of their strong performance in education, and that significant drawdowns occurred after he left office.
Obi further argued that public-sector accounting principles require a clear distinction between approved facilities, amounts actually drawn down, and outstanding balances. Combining these categories into a single “debt left by Peter Obi” figure, he said, was incorrect. Even if a facility had been approved but not fully drawn, it should not be treated as debt incurred by his government, he maintained.
To reinforce his position, Obi recalled that the then Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Abraham Nwankwo, who served for 10 years, invited him to chair his farewell ceremony and publicly announced that Obi was the only state governor during that period who never approached the DMO for approval to borrow money.
Obi also referenced DMO records indicating that Anambra’s external debt stood at about $18 million when he assumed office in March 2006, rose to approximately $30 million by the time he left in March 2014, and stood at about $45.15 million by December 2014. He claimed that at the point of handover he left more than $150 million in investments that were generating about $10 million annually for the state.
The remarks form the latest chapter in a public exchange that began earlier in September when the Anambra State Government released documents and figures challenging Obi’s long-standing claim of leaving the state debt-free. Obi has maintained that he has no personal quarrel with Governor Soludo but insists on correcting what he describes as inaccurate representations of his fiscal record.
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