The Anambra State Government has challenged former governor Peter Obi to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race, releasing a letter it said showed that workers of the Anambra State Water Corporation were owed salary arrears during his administration.
In a post on its official X account on Tuesday, the state’s New Media Office asked: “When will Peter Obi quit presidential campaign?”
The government recalled Obi’s reported pledge to withdraw from the presidential race if it was established that he left Anambra in debt.
It also cited a campaign commitment attributed to him as governor that he would resign if workers were not paid as and when due.
The state government said: “He (Obi) vowed to quit the presidential race if proven he left Anambra in debt.
“As governor, he vowed to resign if workers weren’t paid on time. He broke both. He left office in 2014 with heavier arrears.”
The government accompanied the post with a letter dated April 25, 2006, which it said was signed by Chuks Iloegbunam, then Chief of Staff to Obi.
The letter, titled “GUBERNATORIAL PREROGATIVE,” made a “special appeal” to Obi to settle salary arrears owed to workers of the Anambra State Water Corporation.
The authenticity of the letter could not immediately be independently confirmed, while efforts were ongoing to obtain Iloegbunam’s reaction.
The document listed three reasons for the appeal, including the corporation’s monthly salary bill of about N15m and the fact that its workers had last been paid in February.
The letter read: “Since it is Your Excellency’s unchanging desire to achieve a better future for our children and children’s children, please, Sir, bear in mind that officials of the Water Corporation also have children who are looking to your compassionate leadership.
“If the President listens with compassion to your appeals on behalf of the children of Anambra State, I am 200 percent sure that you will hearken to the cries of the children whose parents work for the Water Corporation and end their ordeal. Thank you most sincerely for that.
“The monthly salary of the Water Corporation comes to something around N15 million every month.
“Because you have a most busy schedule, I appeal to you to please include the Water Corporation in the league of Government parastatals that are paid through subventions.
“In this way, the workers will not come to Your Excellency’s office every month to distract your attention on account of unpaid salaries.”
The letter also referred specifically to a campaign commitment attributed to Obi that the governor would resign “if there is any case where workers are not paid as and when due.”
It concluded: “Your Excellency, Water Corporation workers were last paid in February. Please rectify this anomaly so that you can forge ahead with the good work you are doing.”
In another post, the state government said: “Peter Obi’s former Chief of Staff, Iloegbunam berated him.”
The latest exchange is part of a wider dispute between the Anambra State Government and Obi over the financial position of the state when he left office in March 2014.
On September 17, the state government, through the Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, released a statement alleging that Obi’s administration left outstanding external loans as well as salary, pension and gratuity arrears.
The government said the outstanding balance of eight external borrowings contracted during Obi’s tenure stood at N127.4bn as of June 30, 2026, at the official exchange rate.
It also said Obi contracted $123.77m in external debt for projects including malaria control, erosion management, education and healthcare.
Mefor further alleged that verified salary, gratuity and pension arrears remained outstanding for retired teachers and staff of the Water Corporation.
The commissioner also disputed Obi’s claim that more than N2.13bn had been left untouched in an ecological fund account at First Bank, UNIZIK branch, Awka, saying the account was an Internally Generated Revenue–Consolidated Revenue Account and had not held such a sum.
Obi has rejected the government’s allegations, maintaining that his administration cleared more than N35bn in historical gratuities and arrears and left office without outstanding salary, pension or gratuity obligations.
He has also challenged anyone to produce evidence contradicting his account of the state’s finances, saying he would stop campaigning for the presidency if it was established that he left debts or unpaid obligations.
The dispute has also drawn comments from the Presidency, which has challenged Obi to honour his pledge following the Anambra government’s claims.
The controversy over Anambra’s finances at the end of Obi’s tenure has now become part of the wider political exchanges surrounding the 2027 presidential race.
