* ‘If You Find Even One Person I Owed, I Will End My 2027 Campaign Today’
THE presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has insisted that he did not owe any salaries, pensions, gratuities or any money when he was governor of Anambra State.
Obi, who was governor between March 2006 and March 2014, was reacting to recent claims by the administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo that it was repaying loans obtained by previous administrations, including those of Obi and Willie Obiano, and that it has focused largely on paying existing obligations, rather than accumulating new debts.
The Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, disclosed this during an Ndi Anambra podcast, moderated by a Special Assistant to Soludo on New Media, Ejimofor Opara, the video clip of which was uploaded on Anambra State New Media’s Facebook page on Monday, September 14, and has gone viral since then.
In the podcast, Opara had questioned why details in the budget performance reports indicated that the state government has been servicing loans, despite claims it had not borrowed before, to which Okafor reiterated that the Soludo administration had not borrowed from any commercial bank since taking office, but had continued to service loans inherited from previous governments.
He stated: “It’s on record, you know, that this administration has not borrowed a kobo from any commercial bank since the inception of this administration
“Every month during our FAC (Federation Account Allocation Committee) meetings, and when you see the schedule of FAC, you will notice there were substantial, significant deductions from our own FAC because of loans previously borrowed by previous administrations.”
Okafor claimed some of the loans were obtained during the administrations of Obi and Obiano, noting: “These loans were borrowed, you know, even during the time of Peter Obi and Willie Obiano, (and other) past governors.”
The commissioner stressed that the Soludo administration had “significantly” reduced the state’s debt burden, despite not borrowing any loans himself, adding: “We have been able to manage the debt, the state debt, very well, that we have brought it down by more than 83 per cent as of today.
“We’ve been able to repay back most of these loans.”
Okafor said the Soludo administration had also cleared several “legacy debts,” including unpaid contracts, gratuity arrears and pension arrears, noting: “I will give you an example for our domestic debt. There’s what we call legacy debts, you know. That’s, the contracts that were not paid, the gratuity arrears, pension arrears, we’ve been able to clear all that.”
On external debts, the commissioner explained that some repayments were automatically deducted from federal allocations due to the state, in accordance with the terms and conditions attached to the loans.
He stated: “Before they remit Anambra’s own allocation, they will deduct it as such, because most of them, World Bank loans and other loans, they committed.
“This administration has been able to create more by paying off, you know, the backlog of numerous debts inherited from previous governments, starting from the time of Peter Obi.”
However, Obi restated that his government did not owe anybody or institution at the time of exiting office as governor and challenged Nigerians to investigate his claims.
He had said in 2022 that while leaving office as governor, he left a total of $50million each in Access Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and the defunct Diamond Plc, totalling $150million, with an interest rate of at least 6.5 per cent.
“If you calculate (all of them) today, the money (invested) would have been about N60billion.”
He restated his position on Monday, in reaction to Okafor’s claim, saying: “I left office as governor nearly 13 years ago.
“On the day I left office, I did not owe any salaries, pensions, gratuities or any money that the Anambra State Government was supposed to pay.
“I did not owe a single supplier or contractor. If you find even one person I owed, I will end my 2027 campaign today.”
