NEWS
Obaze Breaks Silence on Obi’s 2014 Handover, Reveals Details of Anambra’s Financial Position
Former Secretary to the Anambra State Government under Peter Obi, Oseloka Obaze, has broken his silence on the renewed controversy surrounding the financial position of the state when the former governor handed over power to his successor, Willie Obiano, in March 2014.
Obaze, who said he was personally present during the transition, provided a detailed account of the handover process, insisting that the financial position of the state was formally documented and presented to the incoming administration.
According to the former SSG, he witnessed Obi signing the handover documents on March 17, 2014, while Obiano, who succeeded him as governor, received and acknowledged his copy of the documents.
He said the materials handed over included certified bank statements and a comprehensive handover report detailing the state’s assets, investments and liabilities at the time of transition.
His intervention comes against the backdrop of a renewed disagreement between Obi and the administration of Governor Charles Soludo over loans and other financial obligations allegedly inherited from previous administrations.
The controversy resurfaced after the Anambra State Government said it was still servicing loans incurred under previous administrations, including those associated with the Obi and Obiano years.
The state Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, reportedly said deductions were still being made from the state’s federal allocation to service outstanding obligations.
Obi, however, has rejected the claim that he left Anambra with outstanding obligations relating to salaries, pensions, gratuities and certified projects.
Amid the conflicting positions, Obaze has now relied on his firsthand knowledge of the 2014 transition to argue that the financial position of the state was clearly captured in documents presented to and acknowledged by the incoming administration.
A copy of the handover report released this week by National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement, Yunusa Tanko, has further intensified the debate.
The document listed a number of financial assets and balances said to have been available at the time Obi left office.
Among the figures contained in the report were ₦27 billion in local investments, $156 million in foreign currency investments valued at approximately ₦26.5 billion, ₦28.166 billion in certified balances belonging to the state and its ministries, departments and agencies, as well as a ₦10 billion Federal Government refund.
The figures placed the total listed balances at ₦91.666 billion, while the liabilities were estimated at ₦5 billion.
Based on those figures, the report indicated a net balance of ₦86.666 billion.
Obaze maintained that the figures were part of the financial information available during the transition and argued that the documentation provided a basis for assessing what was actually handed over in 2014.
The former SSG also revisited the 2017 Anambra governorship debate organised by Channels Television, where the financial records of the previous administration reportedly became an issue.
Obaze recalled that Obiano, a certified accountant and auditor, was questioned about the financial documents he received from Obi.
He said the former governor eventually acknowledged the existence of some funds, while questioning the wisdom of keeping money when there was work to be done.
Obaze argued that the exchange was significant because it provided a public indication that funds had been available to the incoming administration.
He also referred to comments attributed to former Taraba State Governor Darius Ishaku, who he said disclosed that Obiano had told him that Obi left substantial funds behind.
According to Obaze, those funds reportedly helped Obiano independently undertake the construction of the Anambra Airport at Umueri.
The former SSG further cited former banker and current Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, who publicly stated in 2022 that Obi left at least $155 million for his successor.
Otti had explained that, as a former managing director of Diamond Bank, he was involved in helping Obi secure Eurobonds while Obi was governor.
According to the account referenced by Obaze, some of the investments had maturities extending beyond the period of Obi’s administration, meaning that the funds were structured as investments rather than simply being held as ordinary cash balances.
The reference to Otti has now added another layer to the long-running debate, with supporters of Obi pointing to the former banker’s public account as additional testimony concerning the investments associated with the 2014 handover.
Despite the documents and accounts being cited by Obi’s former SSG, the broader controversy over Anambra’s finances has remained unresolved.
In 2015, the Obiano administration reportedly put the inherited debt burden at approximately ₦185 billion, a figure that was disputed by Obi’s camp.
The current Soludo 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 approximately $123.77 million. The government has maintained that some of those obligations remained outstanding.
Obi’s camp, however, has continued to distinguish between loans and other financial obligations on one hand, and the financial assets, investments and balances documented at the point of handover on the other.
This has left the central issue of the dispute focused on how the various assets and liabilities should be reconciled using official records from the period.
For Obaze, the handover process itself remains an important part of establishing what was transferred from one administration to another.
He argued that the documents were not merely prepared by the outgoing administration but were formally presented to the incoming governor, who received and acknowledged them.
Recounting the 2017 debate and subsequent accounts attributed to Obiano and Otti, Obaze questioned why the financial position documented at the point of transition continues to generate controversy more than a decade later.
“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.
The latest intervention has therefore reopened a financial debate that has followed Anambra politics for years, with competing claims over debts, investments, loans and the resources allegedly available at the March 2014 transition.
At the heart of the disagreement remains the interpretation and reconciliation of the official financial records: whether the assets and investments documented during Obi’s handover adequately accounted for, or offset, the financial obligations associated with the state at the time.