Obi’s Record Often Overstated, Presidency Says, Citing Anambra Debt Dispute
By Sunday Etuka
The Presidency has renewed its criticism of Peter Obi’s record as Anambra State governor, with Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, saying the presidential candidate’s achievements in office are frequently exaggerated.
Onanuga said the latest round of the dispute began after Obi challenged the Anambra State Government to verify the debt profile he left behind at the end of his tenure.
According to Onanuga, the state government has since responded, and Obi and his supporters have been unable to directly address the evidence produced.
“I have said it before: Obi’s record is often overstated,” Onanuga said.
He argued that as governor, Obi inherited Awka as an underdeveloped state capital and, citing what he described as a Guardian newspaper assessment of Obi’s stewardship, left the city largely unchanged.
He also said Obi’s administration struggled to address erosion, one of Anambra’s most serious environmental problems, and to contain insecurity that he said discouraged many indigenes from returning to the state, adding that the succeeding Willie Obiano administration made progress on the security front.
Onanuga went further to question the scale of Obi’s transformational record in office, contrasting it with President Bola Tinubu’s tenure as Lagos governor, during which he said projects including the land reclamation that enabled the Eko Atlantic development and the plan for the Lekki Free Trade Zone were initiated, laying the foundation for a new city and a deep seaport.
The remarks extend a long running dispute over Obi’s stewardship of Anambra between 2006 and 2014, a period that has become a central point of contention as Obi seeks the presidency again under the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2027 election.
Obi has repeatedly said his administration left the state debt free, and his media office has said Anambra was among the least indebted states during his tenure, pointing to what it describes as roughly 500 million dollars in savings and investments, including 156 million dollars in dollar denominated bonds, documented in his 2023 manifesto.
Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, who succeeded Obi’s immediate successor, Willie Obiano, has previously disputed the scale of Obi’s fiscal legacy, at one point saying the investments Obi left behind were worth close to nothing, a claim Obi rejected while describing Soludo as his brother and declining to engage in a public quarrel with him.
Obi’s camp has in turn accused the Presidency of running a coordinated campaign to play down his standing ahead of 2027, with the Peter Obi Media Office recently issuing a statement defending his record and listing what it called failures of the Tinubu administration.
Onanuga’s comments come as debate over Obi’s governance record continues to feature prominently in the run up to the January 2027 presidential election, in which Obi is expected to face Tinubu, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
