•Alex Otti and Peter Obi
Governor Alex Otti of Abia State says former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, left $155 million behind while leaving office.
Otti said this during an interview with ARISE Television.
Obi and the Anambra State government have been locked in war of words over the records of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) Presidential Candidate when he was governor.
Otti was Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank when Obi ended his tenure as governor.
However, after Otti had left the bank, he wrote an article in which he referenced how Obi left money behind in Anambra.
When the issue of Anambra finances resurfaced recently, references were made to what Otti said about Obi’s record.
In his ARISE TV interview, Otti said he made the claim six years ago to illustrate that public officials could manage government resources prudently, stressing that he had no reason to withdraw the account he gave at the time.
“They are referring to what I wrote in 2020. I think that was June 8, 2020. I was using it to prove that it’s still possible for people to be prudent in government,” Otti said.
According to him, Obi, who was then governor, initially intended to keep the money in naira before the funds were converted to dollars following concerns about the continued depreciation of the naira.
“It’s an account of what happened. And I had said that as the CEO of the bank at that time, he was going to leave the money in naira, and when he came to me and I said no, this naira you want to keep, naira will keep losing value.”
“So you probably want to convert it to dollars, and it was converted.
“So it’s a statement of fact, and it’s something that happened several years, six years ago. So I haven’t spoken again, and so that’s what they are referring to.”
Obi, in a separate interview with Arise News yesterday, rejected claims that he left Anambra with about $123 million in debt, saying he instead handed over more than $150 million in funds.
The former governor said that even if the state had owed $123.7 million at the time of his departure, the funds he left behind could have been used to settle the liability while preserving the capital.
“Assuming, let me even assume that Anambra State was right, even though it’s false, I did not leave $123 million, let me assume the worst-case scenario: that there was $123.7 million owed as of the time I left. I left over $150 million that was earning about $10 million annually,” Obi said.
He described any presentation that combined the alleged debt with the funds he said he left behind as “very wrong public accounting.”
Obi also maintained that he neither borrowed money nor issued bonds on behalf of Anambra during his eight years in government.
He said his administration left no outstanding salaries, gratuities or pensions due for payment by the state, and no unpaid obligations to contractors or suppliers whose work had been certified and verified.
On foreign debt, Obi said Anambra’s position stood at about $18 million when he assumed office and rose to approximately $30 million by the time he left in March 2014.
He stated that World Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development loans cited in discussions about the state’s debt were concessionary facilities obtained by the Federal Government and subsequently lent to states for specific development projects.
Obi also said his handover documents contained details of the cash, investments and foreign currency holdings he left behind, including bank statements supporting his claim of more than $150 million.
