The Anambra State Government has challenged former Governor Peter Obi to explain where he kept the ₦2.13bn he claimed was left in an ecological fund account when he left office in 2014.
The state Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Law Mefor, said a certified statement of the First Bank account identified by Obi did not support the former governor’s claim.
Mefor, in a statement shared on Wednesday by the Anambra New Media X account, said the account, number 2018779464, was not an ecological fund account but an Internally Generated Revenue Consolidated Revenue Account.
He said the government obtained a certified printout of the account from its opening in 2011 to date and found no record of the ₦2.13bn claimed by Obi.
“From 2011 when the account was opened until date, there has never been any such amount—whether as inflow or balance—in the account,” Mefor said.
He therefore challenged the former governor to identify where the money he said he left for his successor was kept.
The dispute followed Obi’s response to claims by the Anambra Government that his administration left behind debts, including a ₦2bn ecological loan, contractor liabilities and unpaid salaries, gratuities and pensions.
Obi had rejected the claims, saying his administration left office on March 17, 2014, without owing salaries, gratuities, pensions or contractors for completed and certified projects.
On the ecological fund, the former governor said the money was released shortly before the end of his tenure to address the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis.
He said he refused to spend the money because it was meant for the specific project and should be left for the incoming administration.
Obi further claimed that the money remained intact in a First Bank account, with the balance standing at more than ₦2.13bn.
However, Mefor said the certified bank records obtained by the state government contradicted the description of the account and the amount claimed by Obi.
The commissioner also disputed Obi’s claims about inherited debts and savings.
Mefor said eight external loans remained after Obi left office and that their combined balance stood at ₦127.4bn as of June 30, 2026, using the official exchange rate.
He also said the current administration had cleared about ₦22bn in inherited gratuity arrears but that some legacy arrears from previous administrations remained.
On teachers’ salaries, Mefor alleged that Obi’s administration verified 16 months of salary arrears for primary school teachers but paid only five months.
He also questioned Obi’s claim that his administration left more than ₦75bn in savings, asking for records to support the figure.
Obi had earlier challenged anyone who could prove his account of the ecological fund was false, saying, “If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning.”
