The Anambra State Government has challenged former Governor Peter Obi’s claim that he left more than ₦2.13bn in an ecological fund account before handing over power in 2014.
The government said the First Bank account identified by Obi was not an ecological fund account and had never contained the amount he claimed.
The Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, disclosed this in a statement titled, “Gov Peter Obi and Record of Public Debt in Anambra: Facts Beyond Propaganda and Lies.”
Mefor said the state had obtained a certified printout of First Bank account number 2018779464, which Obi identified as the account where he left the ecological funds.
He said the account was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account and not an ecological fund account.
“We have obtained a certified printout of the account from inception to date. The account is an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account, not an ecological fund account,” Mefor said.
“From 2011 when the account was opened until date, there has never been any such amount—whether as inflow or balance—in the account.”
The commissioner consequently challenged Obi to explain where the ₦2.13bn he claimed to have left for his successor was kept.
The latest exchange followed Obi’s rejection of claims by the Anambra Government that his administration left behind debts, including a ₦2bn ecological loan, contractor liabilities and unpaid salaries, gratuities and pensions.
Obi said his administration systematically cleared historical gratuities and arrears worth more than ₦35bn.
“At the point of handover, the state owed nothing in salaries, gratuities, or pensions, nor did we owe anything to any contractor for projects duly executed and certified,” he said.
On the disputed ecological fund, Obi said the money was released about three months before the end of his tenure for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.
He said he resisted pressure to spend the money and instead left it for his successor because it was tied to a specific project.
Obi said the funds were left “100 per cent intact” in First Bank account number 2018779464, with a balance of more than ₦2.13bn.
Mefor also disputed Obi’s account of the wider liabilities allegedly inherited by subsequent administrations.
According to the commissioner, eight external loans remained after Obi left office on March 17, 2014, with their combined balance standing at ₦127.4bn as of June 30, 2026, at the official exchange rate.
The loans listed include the Malaria Control Booster Project, Third National Fadama Development Project, Health System Development Project II, State Education Programme Investment Project, Community and Social Development Project, Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project and Value Chain Development Project.
Mefor also said the Soludo administration had cleared about ₦22bn in inherited gratuity arrears, while some legacy liabilities involving retired teachers and Water Corporation workers remained.
He said the Obi administration had verified 16 months of salary arrears for primary school teachers but paid five months.
The commissioner also rejected Obi’s claim that his administration left more than ₦75bn in savings.
“We will not engage in nebulous creative accounting. If there were ₦75 billion in savings, as claimed, where are the records?” Mefor said.
The dispute has now centred on the financial records surrounding the March 2014 handover, particularly the status and transaction history of the First Bank account identified by Obi and the documents supporting the alleged ecological allocation.
Obi has challenged anyone who disputes his account to produce evidence, saying, “If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning.”
