African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain, Kenneth Okonkwo, has admitted that he was misled over information he previously relied on regarding Peter Obi’s financial record as governor of Anambra State.
Okonkwo made the disclosure while appearing on TVC’s Sunday Politics, amid the escalating controversy over the debt and financial obligations allegedly incurred during Obi’s administration.
The controversy intensified after the Anambra State Government released records claiming that eight external facilities contracted during Obi’s tenure had an outstanding balance of $92.35 million as of June 30, 2026. The state put the equivalent value at about N127.4 billion.
Obi has strongly disputed the characterisation of the figures as debts he personally left behind, arguing that the facilities were primarily World Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development programmes negotiated by the Federal Government and accessed by states through subsidiary arrangements. He also cited Debt Management Office figures showing Anambra’s external debt at about $30 million when he left office in March 2014.
However, Okonkwo’s latest comments mark a significant shift in his position on claims he had previously made in defence of the former Anambra governor.
The ADC chieftain said information available to him at the time had led him to make assertions about Obi’s record which he now considers to have been based on incomplete or misleading information.
The dispute has become a major talking point ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with the Anambra State Government and Obi presenting sharply different accounts of the state’s financial position at the end of his tenure.
While the state government maintains that Obi’s administration contracted external loans and left liabilities that successive administrations have continued to service, Obi insists that he left office without unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities or certified obligations to contractors.
Kenneth Okonkwo: ‘I Was Misled’ Over Peter Obi’s Anambra Debt Records
African Democratic Congress (ADC) chieftain, Kenneth Okonkwo, has admitted that he was misled over information he previously relied on regarding Peter Obi’s financial record as governor of Anambra State.
Okonkwo made the disclosure while appearing on TVC’s Sunday Politics, amid the escalating controversy over the debt and financial obligations allegedly incurred during Obi’s administration.
The controversy intensified after the Anambra State Government released records claiming that eight external facilities contracted during Obi’s tenure had an outstanding balance of $92.35 million as of June 30, 2026. The state put the equivalent value at about N127.4 billion.
Obi has strongly disputed the characterisation of the figures as debts he personally left behind, arguing that the facilities were primarily World Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development programmes negotiated by the Federal Government and accessed by states through subsidiary arrangements. He also cited Debt Management Office figures showing Anambra’s external debt at about $30 million when he left office in March 2014.
However, Okonkwo’s latest comments mark a significant shift in his position on claims he had previously made in defence of the former Anambra governor.
The ADC chieftain said information available to him at the time had led him to make assertions about Obi’s record which he now considers to have been based on incomplete or misleading information.
The dispute has become a major talking point ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with the Anambra State Government and Obi presenting sharply different accounts of the state’s financial position at the end of his tenure.
While the state government maintains that Obi’s administration contracted external loans and left liabilities that successive administrations have continued to service, Obi insists that he left office without unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities or certified obligations to contractors.
