I never borrowed money or issued bonds as Anambra Governor – Peter Obi insists

Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has again denied borrowing money or issuing bonds on behalf of Anambra State during his eight years as governor.

Obi made the clarification on Thursday while appearing on Arise TV’s Prime Time, amid an ongoing dispute over the state’s financial obligations during and after his administration.

The former governor said he left office in March 2014 without owing salaries, gratuities or pensions that were due for payment, and maintained that contractors and suppliers whose projects had been executed, certified and verified were also paid.

“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,” he said.

“On the day I left office, the government of Anambra State, which I headed, was not owing any salary, gratuity, or pension to those scheduled to be paid by the state government. We were not owing any contractor or supplier who executed his job, certified and verified—not one,” he added.

Obi said some of the funding arrangements now being attributed to his administration were concessionary programmes supported by the Federal Government rather than loans obtained by Anambra from commercial banks.

He cited the State Education Programme Investment Project (SEPIP), saying Anambra was among three states selected to benefit from multilateral support because of its performance in education.

“There’s a difference between I went to the bank to borrow money, then federal government sees, ‘Oh, this state is doing well in education.’ They selected Anambra, Ekiti, and Bauchi and said, ‘These three states are doing well. Why don’t we give them a concessionary multi-lateral support to help them?’” Obi said.

He said the programme involved the World Bank and argued that the funds were not obtained through a commercial borrowing arrangement initiated by his administration.

According to Obi, the drawdown under SEPIP occurred after he had left office.

“To support us. Not that we go to World Bank and say give me this, not that we go to any commercial bank. And to even make it more… when it came, if you look at State Education Program Investment Project (SEPIP), you will see that the drawdown was well after I left office,” he said.

Obi further argued that an approved but undrawn facility should not be treated as money borrowed and spent by a government.

He illustrated his point by saying that if a bank approved a N10 billion loan but only N500 million was actually drawn, it would be inaccurate to claim that the government had received and owed the full N10 billion.

“Even if I had gone to bank and borrowed money—but I did not spend the money, you cannot call it debt I left,” he said.

The former governor also cited former Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Abraham Nwankwo, in support of his claim.

Obi said Nwankwo, who headed the DMO for about 10 years, had invited him to chair his send-off ceremony and publicly referred to him as the only governor who did not visit his office to seek approval to borrow money.

“To even confirm this: the then DG of our… Abraham Nwankwo, who was DG of Debt Management Office, served for 10 years. The day he left office, his send-forth party, he invited me as the chairman. And he announced it to everybody at that party that the reason why he made me chairman is because I was the only governor in Nigeria who never came to his office for approval to borrow money,” Obi said.

Anambra Government Disputes Obi’s Position

The comments come amid a renewed dispute between Obi and the Anambra State Government over loans and other financial obligations linked to his tenure.

The state government has alleged that eight external loan facilities contracted during Obi’s administration remain outstanding. According to figures the government attributed to the DMO, the facilities originally amounted to about $123.77 million, with an outstanding balance of about $92.35 million, equivalent to approximately N127.4 billion, as of June 30, 2026.

Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, has argued that the facilities remain liabilities of the state even where they were federally guaranteed.

Mefor said the loans were used for projects covering areas including malaria control, erosion management, education and healthcare, and maintained that the state continues to service the obligations.

Obi, however, has continued to distinguish between facilities supported by the Federal Government or multilateral institutions and loans personally obtained by a state administration from financial institutions.

He has also previously challenged the state government to provide evidence that he left Anambra with unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities or certified contractor obligations, saying he would stop his presidential campaign if the allegations were established.

The former governor has maintained that his administration cleared more than N35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears and handed over without outstanding obligations of the nature he has been accused of leaving behind.

The dispute remains centred on the distinction between loans or facilities contracted during Obi’s tenure, the timing of their drawdowns, and whether such obligations should be characterised as debts left by his administration.

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