17/09/2026
PETER OBI SAID: "FIND ONE PERSON I OWED, I WILL END MY 2027 CAMPAIGN." ANAMBRA JUST FOUND MANY — WILL HE QUIT?
By Fattykolly Ibn Alimi
Former Anambra Governor and 2027 NDC Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has boxed himself into a corner.
In his viral response on Monday to Anambra Finance Commissioner Izuchukwu Okafor, Obi bragged:
"I left office as Governor nearly 13 years ago. On the day I left office, I was not owing any salaries, pensions, gratuities or any money that 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.
And on his other post:
"If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning."
He also claimed he cleared over N35 billion in historical arrears and left no debt.
On Tuesday, September 16, 2026, the Anambra State Government, with certified bank documents and Debt Management Office (DMO) data, did exactly what he asked for — they established the contrary.
And now the question is simple: Will Peter Obi keep his word and chicken out?
PROOF 1: THE N123.7 BILLION EXTERNAL DEBT HE LEFT
The Soludo administration published the DMO report as of June 2026. According to the Government:
As at the date HE Peter Obi left office (17th March 2014), there were still 8 different external borrowings his administration left for his successors.
The total at signing: $123,771,179.30
Outstanding as at June 30, 2026: $92,353,182.00 = N127,372,049,434.12
Loans listed:
1. Malaria Control Booster Project — 2007
2. Third National Fadama Development Project — 2009
3. Health System Development Project II — 2009
4. Malaria Control Booster (Add. Fin.) — 2009
5. State Education Programme Investment Project — 2013
6. Community and Social Development Project — 2009
7. Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Mgt Project — 2013
8. Value Chain Development Project — 2013
Government says: "Evidently, HE Peter Obi borrowed for malaria, erosion control, education, healthcare, etc. So far, this government pays hundreds of millions of Naira every month to service these debts."
That alone contradicts his claim of zero debt.
PROOF 2: SALARIES, PENSIONS AND GRATUITIES HE SAID HE DID NOT OWE
This is the most damaging.
The Government's Fact No. 3 titled:
"HE Peter Obi owed verified salaries, gratuity, and pension to retired teachers and staff of Water Corporation"
Two categories:
A. Staff of defunct Water Corporation: Salaries that lingered throughout Peter Obi's tenure, ending in court judgments. It is Soludo's government that is now paying in 3 installments.
B. Primary School Teachers under Local Government (Mbadinuju era): Obi's government verified and certified 16 months salary arrears to be paid in 3 tranches. It only paid five months and no more until today.
Quote from the press statement:
"So, Your Excellency, you owed salaries, pensions and gratuities. Many of these people are still alive and can contradict your claims... You obviously LIED: you owed many, not one, and those debts are yet to be fully cleared even today!"
Government says it has already cleared about N22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears of retired state and local government employees and teachers that Obi left.
That is more than one person. Those are thousands of people.
PROOF 3: THE N2.13BN ECOLOGICAL FUND LIE
Obi wrote that he left "balance of over N2.13 billion in a First Bank Account No.2018779464, UNIZIK Branch, Awka" and said if false, he would stop campaigning.
Anambra Government obtained certified print out from inception to date:
"First, the account is an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) – Consolidated Revenue Account, and NOT an ecological fund account. Second, from 2011 when the account was opened until date, there has never been any such amount—whether as inflow or balance—in the account."
They then ask: "Since HE Peter Obi raised the issue and admitted that his government received such an amount and it is evident that no such an amount ever entered into the account that he cited, it behoves on HE Peter Obi to tell us where exactly his government kept the money or is the money missing?"
WILL HE ABANDON HIS CAMPAIGN?
Peter Obi set the standard himself. He said: Find one person — I quit.
Anambra Government has not found one person. It found:
1. DMO records showing 8 loans still being serviced worth N127.4bn
2. Water Corporation staff with court judgments
3. Primary school teachers owed 11 months salary since his time
4. Certified bank records showing no N2.13bn ever existed in the account he cited
In 2023, Nigerians loved him because he said "Go and verify." Now verification is out, with account numbers, dates, and DMO codes.
He cannot say it is propaganda. These are not opinions — they are FAAC deductions every month, bank statements from First Bank, and living pensioners.
The honourable thing is to do what he said. Or apologize and explain.
If he continues campaigning after saying _"I will stop campaigning"_ and proof has been provided, then his word — which is his biggest political capital — is gone.
Mr. Peter Obi, Anambra has spoken. Your move. Will you chicken out, or will you prove the Anambra State Government wrong with superior documents?
