Peter Obi vs Anambra: The $123.7 Million Question Nobody Wants To Answer

Anambra State Government has come out today, Saturday, to directly challenge Peter Obi over his claim that he left no debt as governor, and the figures they are quoting are not small. Commissioner for Information Law Mefor said Obi took eight loans worth $123.7 million from the World Bank and the International Development Association across his two terms, and that those loans are sitting in Debt Management Office records even though they were not inside the handover notes Obi left behind.

Here is the part that should concern every Nigerian voter. The state says it has been servicing those debts for years without making noise, and they fired a direct line at Obi: "Peter Obi, you do not have to go to a bank or DMO before your borrowing can be perfected. All that is required is for you to sign the loan agreements and your government did." That is a very specific, very checkable claim, and it is coming from the same government that has been in office for four and a half years.

What I find interesting is the timing and the pattern. Obi dared anyone to prove he left debt, Anambra responded with DMO records and a dollar figure. If the records are real, then Obi needs to explain them. If they are not, then Law Mefor and the Anambra government have a serious problem on their hands. Either way, somebody is lying to the public, and it is not the World Bank that will lose sleep over it. Be honest, when two governments trade figures like this, do you actually believe either side, or have we all just accepted that every governor borrows and every successor complains?