The Presidency has challenged former Anambra State Governor and 2027 presidential candidate Peter Obi to honour his earlier pledge to withdraw from the presidential race if it is established that his administration left outstanding financial liabilities in the state.
Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made the challenge in a post on X on Wednesday, September 16, 2026.
The controversy follows a dispute between Obi and the Anambra State Government over the financial position of the state when he left office in 2014.
The state government has alleged that outstanding loans, salary arrears, pensions and gratuities were inherited from previous administrations, while it specifically cited eight external loans linked to projects during or inherited by the Obi administration. It put the outstanding balance of those loans at about $92.35 million, or ₦127.37 billion, as of June 30, 2026.
Obi, however, has maintained that his administration cleared more than ₦35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears and left office without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity obligations. He also disputed the government’s account of an alleged ₦2.13 billion ecological fund.
Onanuga argued that the latest claims by the Anambra Government had brought Obi’s earlier pledge back into focus, asking whether he would follow through on it.
The competing claims have not been independently resolved by the reports cited above, leaving the debt controversy at the centre of the latest political exchange.
Nation News
