ABUJA – The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has challenged former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race following fresh claims that his administration left the state with outstanding external loans.
The council said the revelations by the Anambra State Government had contradicted Obi’s long-standing claim that he handed over the state without a debt burden.
APC-PCC in a statement issued on Monday by its spokesman, Dele Alake, said the state government reported that Obi’s eight-year administration spent about $4.05bn and contracted $123.77m in external loans.
It added that eight external borrowing facilities obtained during the period were still outstanding when Obi left office on March 17, 2014.
According to the APC council, the loans were obtained for projects and programmes relating to malaria control, erosion management, education and healthcare, with successive administrations continuing to service the obligations.
The council said its objection was not to borrowing for development but to what it described as the contradiction between Obi’s public claims of fiscal prudence and the debt figures now being presented by the state government.
Alake also raised questions over the payment of workers during Obi’s administration, citing a 2006 memo allegedly written by Obi’s then Chief of Staff, Chuks Ileogbunam, appealing for the release of N15m monthly salaries owed workers of the Anambra State Water Corporation.
The APC-PCC spokesman said the correspondence was significant because Obi had reportedly promised during his campaign that he would leave office if any government worker was not paid as and when due.
Alake argued that the alleged existence of salary arrears and external liabilities at the end of Obi’s tenure should compel him to explain his record to the people of Anambra and Nigerians.
The campaign council further criticised Obi over his recent political activities, including a solidarity visit to a person facing an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission case.
It urged the former governor to address the allegations surrounding his record rather than continue to campaign for the presidency.