Presidency challenges Obi to quit presidential race over Anambra debt claims

The Presidency has reacted to the ongoing dispute between former Anambra State Governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the state government over Anambra’s debts, according to a report by Punch.

Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said in a post on X on Wednesday that Obi had claimed to have left Anambra debt-free and had threatened to quit the presidential race if disproved. He said the Anambra government had since confronted Obi with figures showing he owed Water Corporation workers, teachers, and pension and gratuity liabilities. “The ball is back in his court. Will he follow through on his threat by quitting the race?” Onanuga asked.

The reaction follows a fresh response by the Anambra government disputing Obi’s claims that his administration left no outstanding salaries, pensions or gratuities, and that ₦2.13bn remained untouched in an ecological fund account. Commissioner Law Mefor disputed this, saying the account was an IGR Consolidated Revenue Account, not an ecological fund, and no such balance had ever existed in it.