APC Dares Peter Obi to Uphold 2027 Resignation Promise on Anambra Debt

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has publicly challenged Mr. Peter Obi, the New Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, to fulfill his earlier commitment to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race. This challenge comes with the condition that if it is confirmed he burdened Anambra State with debt during his governorship, he should step down.

In a statement released on Monday by its spokesperson, Dele Alake, who also serves as the Minister of Solid Minerals, the APC council highlighted revelations from the Anambra State Government. These disclosures indicate that Obi secured $123.77 million in external loans over his eight-year tenure as the state's chief executive. Alake further detailed that Obi's administration spent approximately $4.05 billion and exited office in March 2014, leaving behind eight external borrowings. These loans, designated for projects spanning malaria control, erosion management, education, and healthcare, have since been continuously serviced by subsequent state administrations.

The statement partly read, “For the past four years, Mr Peter Obi and his supporters packaged Obi’s tenure as Anambra governor as one defined by exceptional fiscal prudence, including the claim that he left Anambra without a debt burden. Obi himself was presented as a squeaky-clean politician. But it has all emerged as a well-packaged lie.” The APC council asserted that the “facade of falsehood built around Peter Obi, the NDC presidential candidate, has now been torn to shreds, with Obi’s persona deconstructed after disclosures by the Anambra State Government, which responded to Obi’s challenge to verify his record.”

According to the Anambra State Government, the former governor expended roughly USD 4.05 billion, equivalent to N5.4 trillion, throughout his eight years in office and entered into USD 123.77 million in foreign loans. The state government further revealed that upon Obi's departure from office on March 17, 2014, there were eight distinct external loan obligations for initiatives like malaria eradication, erosion control, education, and healthcare. These financial commitments, it noted, have been consistently managed by successive administrations, including the current one led by Governor Chukwuma Soludo.

While acknowledging that borrowing is not inherently wrong when channeled into developmental projects, the APC campaign council contended that the reported loans contradict Obi’s long-standing assertions of fiscal prudence and leaving Anambra State debt-free. The council’s statement declared, “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: Obi is an irredeemable liar, a mediocre governor, unfit for leadership anywhere.”

The APC also questioned Obi's achievements, stating, “Even more confounding is that despite these borrowings, Obi has nothing to show for his stewardship across Anambra’s sectors. He failed to pay workers’ salaries in some ministries.” It specifically pointed out protests by Water Corporation staff over unpaid salaries. A memo dated April 25, 2006, from Chuks Ileogbunam, Obi’s then-Chief of Staff, was cited, where Ileogbunam appealed to the governor to pay the Water Corporation workers’ N15 million monthly salary to avert demonstrations at the Governor’s office.

Ileogbunam’s plea in the memo stated, “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 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.”

The APC PCC urged Obi to acknowledge his alleged misrepresentations and seek forgiveness from the people of Anambra. It also raised concerns about his recent solidarity visit to an individual currently facing an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) trial over alleged financial misconduct. The council’s statement concluded, “Just as Obi promised to quit the presidential race if it was proven that he left a debt burden for Anambra State, the letter revealed that Obi had similarly promised Anambra people during his campaign that he would resign as governor “if there is any case where workers are not paid as and when due. Of course, he never meant to. He only deceived people into voting for him. When he left office in 2014, he left his successors with heavier arrears to clear.” The APC advised Obi to “purge himself of his lies and seek the forgiveness of the Anambra people instead of galloping around platforms, parroting inanities.”