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PETER OBI AND THE ANAMBRA DEBT RECORD: FACTS VERSUS FICTION By Okoi Obono-Obla The Anambra State Government's detailed rebuttal to Mr. Peter Obi's claims on "Phantom Debts" has finally laid bare the hollow foundation of the Obi mystique. For years, Mr. Obi has postured as the frugal saint who turned Anambra into an El Dorado and has used that false pedestal to relentlessly and sanctimoniously attack the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The facts now show otherwise. Four facts stand out from the Government's statement: First, he spent an estimated $4.05 billion in eight years - about N5.4 trillion at today's rate. Yet Anambra was left without functional urban or rural water schemes, with 78 out of 179 communities without any public primary school, with dilapidated public hospitals that only 27% of the people used, and with rising poverty and insecurity. Second, contrary to his claim that he borrowed nothing, he left behind eight external loans totaling $123.77 million at signing. According to the Debt Management Office as of June 30, 2026, the outstanding balance is $92.35 million or N127.4 billion, which the current government services monthly with hundreds of millions of Naira. Third, contrary to his claim that he cleared all salaries and pensions, he left verified arrears. These include salaries of staff of the defunct Water Corporation which ended in court judgments, and 16 months arrears of primary school teachers from the Mbadinuju era which his own government verified but paid only five months. Fourth, his claim of leaving N2.13 billion in Ecological Fund in First Bank Account No. 2018779464, UNIZIK Branch, Awka, is demonstrably false. The certified statement of account shows the account is an IGR-Consolidated Revenue Account and has never held such amount from inception in 2011 till date. The question is: where is the money? The so-called N75 billion savings remains what the State Government correctly calls nebulous creative accounting. Conclusion: The evidence is clear. If a small, homogenous state like Anambra could not be transformed despite $4.05 billion in spending and massive borrowing, how can the same manager promise to fix a complex federation of 36 states and the FCT? Mr. Obi's eight years was an unmitigated failure, now masked by revisionism. He should desist from deceiving Nigerians with sanctimonious sermons. The desperation is even clearer in his reported four-year single-term pact with his running mate, in direct contradiction of the two-term, eight-year provision of the 1999 Constitution. Nigerians deserve honesty, not theatre. Okoi Obono-Obla writes from Abuja.
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