Former Anambra governor Peter Obi has challenged the Soludo administration to produce evidence that his government left unpaid financial obligations, saying he would abandon his 2027 presidential campaign if such claims are substantiated.
Former Anambra State Governor and presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has challenged Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s administration to provide evidence that his tenure left the state with outstanding debts and unpaid obligations.
Obi’s challenge comes amid renewed disagreement between his camp and the Anambra State Government over the state’s financial position and the liabilities inherited by successive administrations.
The Anambra Government has maintained that it is still servicing loans and other obligations associated with previous administrations, including the period before Soludo assumed office.
Obi, however, has disputed the characterisation of his administration’s financial record, insisting that he left office without outstanding salaries, pensions or gratuities that the state government was required to pay.
The former governor said he was prepared to stake his political ambition on the issue, challenging his critics to identify specific unpaid obligations attributable to his administration.
He said that if evidence is produced showing that he left Anambra with the debts being attributed to him, he would discontinue his campaign for the presidency in 2027.
The dispute has revived scrutiny of Anambra’s fiscal history and the competing claims by successive administrations over the state’s finances.
Obi’s challenge also adds a political dimension to his increasingly public differences with Soludo, who succeeded him as governor in 2022.
With both men occupying influential positions in the state’s political landscape, the dispute is likely to remain part of the wider debate over governance, public debt and accountability ahead of the 2027 elections.