The Anambra State Government has intensified its dispute with former governor Peter Obi over the financial position of the state when he left office in 2014, arguing that governance should be measured by citizens’ welfare rather than the amount of money left in banks.
Obi, now the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, has maintained that he left more than $150 million in state investments and savings, which he said could have generated significant returns if retained.
The state government, however, said it had identified liabilities it attributed to Obi’s administration, including external obligations and salary arrears owed to workers of defunct state agencies.
In a statement issued by Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation Law Mefor, the government accused Obi of overstating the significance of savings while downplaying development gaps and liabilities.
The statement argued that the purpose of government was to improve security, welfare and economic opportunity rather than simply accumulate balances.
The government has repeatedly said Obi left about $123.77 million in external obligations linked to development facilities.
Obi disputes that characterization and has argued that the facilities involved concessional programmes negotiated through the Federal Government and that the figures being cited combine approvals, drawdowns and outstanding balances.
He has also challenged the state to prove that he left unpaid salaries, pensions or verified contractor obligations.
The state government recently released documents indicating that N363.381 million was scheduled as a second tranche of payment towards salary arrears owed to workers and pensioners of the defunct Anambra State Water Corporation and Anambra State Environmental Protection Agency.
The Soludo administration said the arrears were inherited from the Obi era.
The dispute remains a political and financial controversy between the current state government and the former governor, with both sides relying on different interpretations of public records and liabilities.
In a separate clarification, Anambra First Lady Nonye Soludo denied a claim that Obi was a godfather to any of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s children.
Her media aide, Daniel Ezeigwe, said the actual family relationship was that Nonye Soludo was the confirmation godmother to Obi’s daughter, while Margaret Obi was the baptismal godmother to one of the Soludos’ daughters.
The statement suggested Obi may have misspoken and said the clarification was necessary because of the wide circulation of the video containing the claim.
