The Anambra State Government has disputed former Governor Peter Obi’s claim that he left the state without outstanding debts, alleging that his administration left eight external loans with an outstanding balance of N127.4bn as of June 30, 2026.

The state Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Dr Law Mefor, made the claim in a statement issued in Awka on Wednesday in response to comments by Obi, who had denied leaving unpaid loans, salaries, pensions, gratuities or contractors’ liabilities when he left office in March 2014.

According to Mefor, the latest debt report from the Debt Management Office showed that Obi’s administration contracted $123.77m in external loans, with the outstanding balance standing at $92.35m, equivalent to N127.4bn at the official exchange rate as of June 2026.

The loans, the government said, were obtained for projects including malaria control, erosion management, education and healthcare.

The commissioner also alleged that Obi left outstanding salary, pension and gratuity liabilities involving retired teachers and former workers of the state Water Corporation.

The state government said its administration had since paid about N22bn in inherited gratuity arrears, while it was also addressing outstanding salary arrears involving former Water Corporation workers and primary school teachers under the local government system.

Mefor further challenged Obi’s account of an alleged N2.13bn ecological fund said to have been kept in a First Bank account at the UNIZIK branch in Awka.

He claimed the account was actually an internally generated revenue consolidated account and that the government’s records showed no such amount had entered or remained in the account since it was opened in 2011.

Obi had earlier rejected the state government’s debt claims, insisting that he left office without outstanding salary, pension, gratuity or contractor liabilities.

He also said his administration had cleared more than N35bn in historical gratuity and arrears and challenged the state government to provide evidence supporting its allegations.

The former governor further disputed the claim concerning the N2bn ecological fund, saying the money had been released shortly before he left office to address the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis and was kept untouched in a First Bank account.

Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri Jnr, said a team of former officials who served under the former governor was preparing a detailed response to the allegations, describing the matter as a governance issue rather than a campaign matter.

The controversy comes amid a wider political dispute over Obi’s record as governor and his bid for the 2027 presidential election.