The Anambra State Government has challenged former governor and 2027 presidential candidate Peter Obi over his claim that he left the state without outstanding financial liabilities, releasing a 2006 document it says shows salary arrears existed during his administration.
In a post on its official X account on Tuesday, the state government’s New Media Office questioned when Obi would withdraw from the 2027 presidential race, referring to his earlier statement that he would stop campaigning if it were established that he left Anambra in debt.
The government also cited an earlier pledge attributed to Obi during his time as governor that he would resign if workers were not paid as and when due.
The document released by the government is a letter dated April 25, 2006, and purportedly signed by Chuks Iloegbunam, who was then Obi’s Chief of Staff. It was addressed to Obi and sought intervention over salary arrears involving workers of the Anambra State Water Corporation.
According to the document, Water Corporation workers had last received their salaries in February, while the corporation’s monthly wage bill was about N15 million.
The letter appealed to Obi to place the corporation among government agencies funded through subventions, arguing that this would help ensure workers were paid regularly.
The state government later described the document as evidence that salary arrears existed during Obi’s tenure. However, the authenticity and context of the document have not been independently established in the material reviewed, and Iloegbunam’s response was being sought.
The salary dispute is part of a wider disagreement over the financial position of Anambra when Obi left office in March 2014.
On September 17, the state government said records from the Debt Management Office showed that eight external borrowing facilities contracted during Obi’s administration remained outstanding. It put the balance of those loans at N127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026, using the official exchange rate.
The government said the loans, originally totalling about $123.77 million, were used for projects including malaria control, erosion management, education, healthcare and other development programmes.
It also alleged that salary, pension and gratuity arrears remained from Obi’s tenure, including liabilities involving Water Corporation workers.
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Obi has rejected the allegations. He said his administration cleared more than N35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears and handed over the state without outstanding salaries, pensions, gratuities or liabilities to contractors whose work had been completed and certified.
Obi also said he would stop his 2027 presidential campaign if anyone could establish that he left the state with unpaid obligations.
The dispute has since drawn intervention from the federal political arena. The APC Presidential Campaign Council, through its spokesman Dele Alake, has called on Obi to honour that pledge and withdraw from the 2027 race, citing the debt records released by Anambra.
Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri Jnr, rejected the intervention and said former officials who served under Obi were preparing a detailed response to the issues raised by the Anambra government.
The Presidency had also previously challenged Obi over the dispute, with Special Adviser on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga asking him to honour his stated condition concerning the presidential race.
The latest development therefore adds a fresh document concerning salary arrears to an already contested debate over loans, pensions, gratuities and other financial obligations allegedly left at the end of Obi’s tenure.
The competing claims have not been resolved by an independent finding in the reports reviewed, and both sides continue to maintain different accounts of Anambra’s financial position when Obi handed over power in 2014.