The Anambra State Government has challenged former governor Peter Obi to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race, following a renewed dispute over alleged debts and salary arrears left behind by his administration.
In a statement posted on its official X account on Tuesday, the state’s New Media Office asked: “When will Peter Obi quit presidential campaign?”
The government recalled that Obi had said he would abandon his presidential ambition if it could be established that he left Anambra State in debt.
It also cited a pledge allegedly made by Obi while he was governor that he would resign if workers were not paid their salaries as and when due.
The state government alleged that Obi failed to keep both promises.
It said, “He (Obi) vowed to quit the presidential race if proven he left Anambra in debt.
“As governor, he vowed to resign if workers weren’t paid on time. He broke both. He left office in 2014 with heavier arrears.”
The government accompanied the post with a letter dated April 25, 2006, allegedly signed by Chuks Iloegbunam, who was then Chief of Staff to Obi.
The Telegraph could not immediately independently verify the letter, while efforts are ongoing to obtain Iloegbunam’s response.
The letter, titled “GUBERNATORIAL PREROGATIVE,” appealed to Obi to settle salary arrears owed to workers of the Anambra State Water Corporation.
It cited three reasons for the appeal, including that the corporation’s monthly wage bill was about ₦15m and that its workers had last been paid in February.
The letter stated, “The monthly salary of the Water Corporation comes to something around ₦15 million every month. Because you have a most busy schedule, I appeal to you to please include the Water Corporation in the league of Government parastatals that are paid through subventions. In this way, the workers will not come to Your Excellency’s office every month to distract your attention on account of unpaid salaries.”
It also specifically referred to Obi’s campaign manifesto, which allegedly pledged that he would resign “if there is any case where workers are not paid as and when due.”
“Your Excellency, Water Corporation workers were last paid in February. Please rectify this anomaly so that you can forge ahead with the good work you are doing,” the letter concluded.
In a follow-up post, the state government said, “Peter Obi’s former Chief of Staff, Iloegbunam berated him.”
The latest exchange is part of a broader dispute between the administration of Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo and Obi over the financial position of Anambra State when the former governor left office in March 2014.
On September 16, the state government, through the Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, released a statement titled “Gov Peter Obi and Record of Public Debt in Anambra: Facts Beyond Propaganda and Lies.”
The government alleged that Obi’s administration left outstanding external loans, as well as salary, pension and gratuity arrears.
According to Mefor, the outstanding balance of eight external borrowings linked to Obi’s administration stood at ₦127.4bn as of June 30, 2026, when converted at the official exchange rate. The loans, he said, were contracted for projects and programmes including malaria control, erosion management, education and healthcare.
The commissioner also alleged that Obi left verified salary, gratuity and pension arrears involving retired teachers and former workers of the Water Corporation.
Mefor further disputed Obi’s claim that more than ₦2.13bn was left in an ecological fund account at First Bank’s UNIZIK branch in Awka. He said the account cited by Obi was an Internally Generated Revenue–Consolidated Revenue Account and did not contain the amount claimed.
Obi has rejected the allegations.
In a statement responding to the claims, he maintained that he left office without outstanding salaries, pensions or gratuities owed by the state government, and said his administration had cleared more than ₦35bn in historical gratuities and arrears.
He also said he owed no supplier or contractor whose work had been completed, certified and properly processed for payment.
Obi challenged the Anambra State Government to produce evidence that he left the state with outstanding debts or unpaid obligations, saying he would stop campaigning for the 2027 presidency if such evidence were established.
The dispute subsequently drew a response from the Presidency, with Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, challenging Obi to honour his pledge and withdraw from the 2027 race.
Onanuga said the Anambra State Government had presented what it described as evidence of debts and other liabilities left by the former governor.
Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri Jnr, however, described the Presidency’s intervention as that of a “meddlesome interloper” and said a team of former officials who served under Obi was preparing a detailed response to the substantive issues raised by the Anambra State Government.
The disagreement over Anambra’s financial position at the end of Obi’s tenure has resurfaced periodically since the transition to his successor, Willie Obiano, and has intensified as the 2027 presidential contest approaches.
