ABUJA, Nigeria — A nine-year-old affidavit sworn by Peter Obi at the Supreme Court Registry has resurfaced amid a renewed dispute over the finances of Anambra State during his tenure as governor.
The document, dated September 26, 2017, contains Obi’s sworn account of money he said his administration left behind, government spending, ecological funds, investments, and other financial matters when he left office in March 2014.
Its re-emergence comes as the Anambra State Government and Obi trade competing claims over whether his administration left debts that successive governments have continued to service.
The affidavit does not represent a new Supreme Court case over the current controversy.
It was sworn at the court’s registry in Abuja in response to questions raised in 2017 by the South-East chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation.
News Express published the document on Saturday, September 26, 2026.
Obi Swore He Left Funds and Investments
In the affidavit, Obi maintained that his administration left about ₦75 billion in cash and investments for Anambra State.
He said the amount included $156 million in foreign-currency investments placed with three Nigerian banks.
Obi also stated that his government had set aside about ₦2.14 billion from the Federal Government’s Ecological Fund, approximately ₦4.91 billion in SURE-P funds, and several billion naira for education and Millennium Development Goals programmes.
He said those funds were preserved to allow the incoming administration of Willie Obiano to continue projects and meet future obligations.
Obi further rejected allegations concerning excessive security-vote spending, saying total expenditure under that heading during his eight years in office was below ₦25 billion and included spending on vehicles and infrastructure for security agencies.
He swore that the contents of the affidavit were true to the best of his knowledge.
Fresh Dispute Over $123.77 Million
The old affidavit has returned to public attention after the administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo said external facilities associated with projects undertaken during Obi’s tenure had a contracted value of $123.77 million.
The state government said about $92.35 million remained outstanding as of June 30, 2026.
Obi has disputed the way those figures have been characterised.
Speaking on Friday, he said the facilities largely involved World Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development programmes negotiated by the Federal Government and accessed by participating states.
“As Governor of Anambra State, I did not approach any financial institution to borrow funds or issue a bond on behalf of the state,” Obi said.
He acknowledged that Anambra had repayment obligations under some multilateral programmes but argued that the total approved value of such programmes should not be described as debt personally incurred by his administration.
Obi also cited Debt Management Office figures which, he said, placed Anambra’s external debt at about $30 million when he left office in March 2014.
The Anambra government maintains that financial obligations connected to projects initiated during Obi’s tenure continued beyond his administration.
It has also released documents relating to other liabilities, including salary arrears, as part of its effort to challenge Obi’s repeated assertion that he handed over a debt-free state.
News outlets reported that the government produced records concerning ₦363.38 million in arrears involving two defunct state agencies.
The dispute remains one of competing interpretations of Anambra’s financial records, with both sides pointing to official documents to support their positions.
