The Anambra State Government has challenged former Governor Peter Obi’s argument that the $156 million he left in investments was sufficient to offset any other liabilities allegedly incurred during his tenure.
The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Chukwukadibia Okoye, in a reaction on Friday, said Obi still had questions to answer over the financial position of the state when he left office in 2014.
Okoye said Obi was ‘slowly drifting away from the facts’ of the controversy, which centres on the completeness of the financial records presented at the end of his administration.
He said, ‘In public accounting and generally accepted accounting principles, nobody refuses to account for a valid liability, and when it is brought to his attention, his defence becomes that the assets are sufficient to pay undisclosed liability.
‘At the minimum, such accounting records are withdrawn and restated. This is the globally accepted standard.’
The commissioner said the more fundamental issue was whether Obi’s claim that he left no liability other than the N5 billion disclosed in his handover note was accurate.
‘The Anambra State Government has presented records indicating that there were indeed external debts and other financial obligations that remained unsettled as at the date he left office,’ he said.
Okoye said the controversy was not simply about whether the state had assets capable of covering some liabilities, but whether the handover statement provided a complete and accurate picture of the state’s assets and liabilities as of March 17, 2014.
He also questioned the nature and valuation of some of the assets described as investments.
‘Not everything described as an investment necessarily represents cash or a readily realisable financial asset. For instance, an uncompleted project cannot ordinarily be treated in the same manner as cash or a liquid financial investment,’ he said.
According to him, such an asset should be regarded as work in progress, with its value independently established.
He also questioned the valuation of equity investments, citing the reported investment in Intafact, which he said had subsequently suffered a significant decline in value.
‘This raises an important accounting question: what was the basis of the valuation assigned to such investments at the point of handover, and were those valuations realistic, independently verifiable and realisable?’ he asked.
Obi’s 2014 handover document, which has been made public amid the dispute, listed $156 million in foreign-currency investments, N27 billion in local investments and other balances, with an estimated N5 billion liability deducted to arrive at a net balance of about N86.67 billion.
The Anambra government, however, has maintained that external loans and other financial obligations remained outstanding from the period of Obi’s administration.
It has cited records showing eight external loan facilities and an outstanding balance it puts at $92.35 million as of June 30, 2026.
Obi has rejected the government’s claims and maintained that he left office without outstanding salaries, pensions, gratuities or liabilities to contractors for duly executed and certified projects.
Okoye said the $156 million investment argument therefore did not, by itself, resolve the controversy.
‘The questions that need to be answered are much broader. What were the state’s complete liabilities and commitments on that same date? Have they been properly and fully disclosed? Does that report represent the true and fair position of the assets and liabilities of the state at handover date?
‘The real issue is the completeness and accuracy of the 2014 handover position,’ he told The Nation.