Anambra Govt Disputes Peter Obi’s ₦2.13bn Ecological Fund Claim

A fresh dispute has erupted between the Anambra State Government and former governor Peter Obi over his claim that more than ₦2.13 billion was left in an ecological fund account when he handed over power in 2014.

The state government says the First Bank account cited by Obi was not an ecological fund account and, based on its records, never held the amount he mentioned. 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 government obtained a certified statement covering the history of First Bank account number 2018779464, which Obi had identified as the account where the ecological funds were kept. He said the records showed that the account was an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account rather than an ecological fund account.

The commissioner further claimed that the account, from when it was opened in 2011 to date, had never recorded ₦2.13 billion either as an inflow or as its balance. He therefore challenged Obi to explain where the ecological fund was kept if the account he identified was not the one used.

The dispute followed Obi’s rejection of claims that his administration left behind significant liabilities when he left office on March 17, 2014. Obi said his government had cleared more than ₦35 billion in historical gratuities and arrears and left the state without outstanding salaries, pensions, gratuities or debts to contractors for completed and certified projects.

On the ecological fund, Obi said the money was released about three months before the end of his tenure to address the erosion crisis in Oko and Umuchiana. He said he declined to spend the funds because they were tied to the project and instead left the money untouched for his successor, arguing that government was a continuum.

Obi maintained that the funds remained fully intact in a First Bank account, with more than ₦2.13 billion available at the time of handover. Mefor, however, said the certified bank records obtained by the state government did not support that account.

The commissioner also disputed Obi’s broader position on Anambra’s inherited liabilities. Mefor said eight external loans remained after Obi left office, with their combined balance put at ₦127.4 billion as of June 30, 2026, using the official exchange rate. The loans listed included projects covering malaria control, agriculture, health, education, community development, erosion management and value-chain development.

Mefor further said the Soludo administration had cleared about ₦22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears, while some legacy liabilities involving retired teachers and Water Corporation workers remained. He also claimed that Obi’s administration verified 16 months of salary arrears for primary school teachers but paid only five months. The commissioner equally questioned Obi’s claim that more than ₦75 billion was left in savings, asking for documentary records to support the figure.

Obi has meanwhile challenged anyone who can disprove his account of the ecological fund, saying: “If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning.” The latest exchange leaves the competing claims over Anambra’s finances and the disputed ecological fund unresolved between the two sides.