The former Secretary to the Anambra State Government under Peter Obi, Oseloka Obaze has opened up on the controversy over the financial position of the state when the former governor handed over power to Willie Obiano in 2014.
The former SSG, who said he was personally present when Obi signed the handover documents on March 17, 2014, also that he witnessed Obiano receiving and acknowledging his copy of the documents, including certified bank statements and the handover report.
The development comes amid a fresh dispute between Obi and the Charles Soludo administration over loans and other financial obligations allegedly inherited from previous administrations.
The Anambra State Government had recently said it was still servicing loans incurred under previous administrations, including those of Obi and Obiano. The state Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, said deductions were still being made from the state’s federal allocation to service the obligations.
But Obi has rejected the claim, maintaining that he left office without outstanding debts relating to salaries, pensions, gratuities and certified projects.
Amid the renewed controversy, the former SSG said he had firsthand knowledge of the 2014 handover and insisted that the financial documents presented to Obiano clearly contained details of the state’s assets and liabilities.
According to him, the handover documents listed the financial position of the state, including funds and investments held by the government at the time Obi left office.
A copy of the handover report released this week by the National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement, Yunusa Tanko, showed figures including ₦27 billion in local investments, $156 million in foreign currency investments valued at ₦26.5 billion, ₦28.166 billion in certified state and MDAs balances, and a ₦10 billion Federal Government refund.
The document put the total listed balances at ₦91.666 billion and estimated liabilities at ₦5 billion, leaving a stated net balance of ₦86.666 billion.
The former SSG also recalled the 2017 Anambra governorship debate organised by Channels Television, where he said Obiano was questioned over the financial records he received from his predecessor.
He said Obiano, who was a certified accountant and auditor, had acknowledged during the debate that some funds were indeed available, while questioning the rationale behind keeping money when there was work to be done.
The former SSG further referred to an account attributed to former Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku, who he said had disclosed that Obiano told him that Obi left substantial funds which helped his administration undertake the construction of the Anambra Airport at Umueri.
He also cited former banker and now Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, who publicly said in 2022 that Obi left at least $155 million for his successor. Otti said he was involved in helping Obi secure Eurobonds while he was managing director of Diamond Bank and that some of the investments had maturities extending to later years.
The latest intervention has added another dimension to the long-running argument over what Obi actually handed over to Obiano in 2014.
While Obi’s camp has pointed to the handover documents and investments as evidence that the state had substantial resources at the time, successive reports and statements from the Obiano and Soludo administrations have maintained that the state inherited significant financial obligations.
In 2015, the Obiano administration put the inherited debt burden at about ₦185 billion, a figure disputed by Obi’s camp.
The current Anambra administration has also released records which it said showed that Obi’s administration contracted eight external loans between 2007 and 2013, with an original value of about $123.77 million. The government said part of the loans remained outstanding.
The competing claims have therefore centred on a key question: whether the assets and investments recorded in Obi’s 2014 handover documents adequately offset the financial obligations associated with the state at the time.
For Obi’s former SSG, however, the fact that the handover documents were presented, received and acknowledged by the incoming administration remains central to the dispute.
He consequently questioned why the financial position documented at the point of transition should continue to generate controversy more than a decade after the handover.
“During the nationally televised Anambra 2017 governorship debate on Sunday, 12, November 2017, organized by Channels Television, Gov Willie Obiano asserted surprisingly that there were no funds left by the Obi Administration.
“I recall asking him on national television how, as a certified accountant and auditor, he would sign off and accept financial documents, for which he now was expressing reservations. He then publicly acknowledged for the first time that some specified funds were in place and asked what was the use of saving money, when there was work to be done. As Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba would later confirm to members of the Nigerian press corps, Gov. Obiano had disclosed to him that his predecessor (Gov. Obi) had indeed left huge sums, which enabled him to independently build the Anambra Airport at Umueri.
If Gov. Obiano, to whom Peter Obi handed over in 2014, would eventually acknowledge -implicitly and explicitly – that Gov. Peter Obi indeed left the stipulated funds, a fact that was also publicly corroborated by Gov. Alex Otti, in his capacity as an ex-banker, what then, one may ask, is the beef and grouse of the incumbent Anambra State Government?” He queried.
