The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has asked the Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race, citing recent disclosures by the Anambra State Government on debts and other liabilities linked to his eight-year tenure as governor.
The council said Obi should honour his reported pledge to quit the presidential contest if evidence emerged that his administration left behind debt obligations in Anambra State.
In a statement on Monday by its spokesman, Dele Alake, the APC campaign organisation said the disclosures had called into question Obi’s long-standing presentation of his tenure between 2006 and 2014 as one characterised by fiscal prudence and the absence of outstanding liabilities.
The Anambra State Government had last week said Obi’s administration contracted $123.77 million in external loans, with eight loan facilities remaining on the state’s books when he left office on March 17, 2014.
The outstanding balance on those facilities stood at $92.35 million, or about N127.4 billion, as of June 30, 2026.
The state government said the loans were tied to projects covering malaria control, education, healthcare, erosion management, community development and agricultural value-chain development, adding that successive administrations had continued servicing them.
Obi has disputed the state government’s characterisation of his financial record, maintaining that his administration did not leave unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities or properly executed and certified contractor obligations when he handed over in 2014.
The APC council, however, said the external loan records were enough to contradict what it described as the image of a debt-free administration promoted by Obi and his supporters.
‘Borrowing is not injudicious if used for development. But for a man who prides himself on being austere and has frequently claimed he left the state with a clean bill of health, the revelations confirmed what has long been held,’ it said.
The campaign council also seized on the Anambra government’s claim that Obi’s administration spent about $4.05 billion over eight years, which the state converted to about N5.4 trillion at the current exchange rate.
The state said the $4.05 billion figure came from converting audited expenditures during Obi’s tenure at the average official exchange rates in effect at the time.
Alake further accused the former governor of leaving unpaid obligations to some workers, citing the Anambra Water Corporation.
The statement reproduced a purported April 25, 2006 memo from Obi’s then Chief of Staff, Chuks Ileogbunam, appealing to the governor to approve the corporation workers’ N15 million monthly salary to avert protests over unpaid wages.
‘Since it is your excellency’s unchanging desire to achieve a better future for our children and children’s children, please, Sir, bear in mind that officials of the Water Corporation also have children who are looking to your compassionate leadership,’ the memo quoted by the campaign council read.
‘The President listens with compassion to your appeals on behalf of the children of Anambra. I am 200 per cent sure that you will hearken to the cries of the children whose parents work for the Water Corporation and end their ordeal,’ it added.
The APC council claimed Obi had promised during his governorship campaign to resign if workers were not paid as and when due, arguing that the alleged salary arrears contradicted that pledge.
It also criticised Obi over what it described as a recent solidarity visit to an individual facing trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, although the statement did not identify the person.
The campaign organisation said the former governor should respond directly to the records released by the Anambra government rather than continue defending his fiscal record.
‘Indeed, if Peter Obi has any honour, he must resign from the 2027 presidential race forthwith, in keeping with his promise to end his run if it is proven that his administration left behind liabilities in Anambra,’ Alake said.
The Anambra government had said the controversy was not about whether borrowing was inherently wrong, noting that governments routinely borrow for development, but whether Obi’s administration left loan obligations that succeeding governments were required to service.