Former Labour Party presidential campaign spokesperson, Kenneth Okonkwo, has said he was misled when he previously defended former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi against claims that his administration left behind debts and other financial obligations.
Okonkwo, now a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), made the disclosure while appearing on Television Continental’s Sunday Politics, as the controversy over Anambra State’s debt profile continues.
During the 2023 presidential campaign, Okonkwo was one of Obi’s prominent defenders. He had maintained that Obi left office without owing salaries, pensions, gratuities or other debts and challenged Nigerians to verify the claim.
However, speaking on the programme, Okonkwo said he could no longer maintain that position in light of information subsequently presented by the Anambra State Government.
“You know me, I’m a very passionate person in whatever I believe in. Let me tell you, because I was misled,” Okonkwo said.
He recalled his earlier position that Obi “was not owing anything” when he left office as governor.
According to Okonkwo, the Anambra State Government has since presented claims that Obi’s administration obtained eight loans and that workers of the state-owned Water Corporation were owed salaries and arrears.
“The fact is the Anambra State Government said he borrowed eight loans. The fact is that Anambra State said that at the water corporation, he was owing workers there, all the salaries, all the arrears. I cannot say the same thing that I said about Peter Obi in 2023,” he said.
Okonkwo stressed that he was willing to revise his position when presented with information that contradicted what he previously understood to be the facts.
“I’m not a man that stands on my own misunderstanding. When I see the facts, I agree,” he said.
Obi rejects Anambra Government’s debt claims
Okonkwo’s comments come days after Obi publicly rejected the Anambra State Government’s claim that his administration left behind $123.77 million in external debt.
The former governor said he neither approached a financial institution to borrow money nor issued a bond on behalf of Anambra State during his tenure.
Obi argued that the facilities cited by the state government were concessionary development-support arrangements involving the Federal Government and the World Bank, rather than loans personally obtained by him. He also disputed the characterisation of the entire $123.77 million as debt inherited from his administration.
The Anambra State Government, however, has maintained that eight external facilities associated with projects during Obi’s tenure had a combined contracted value of $123.77 million, with an outstanding balance of $92.35 million as of June 30, 2026, according to figures it attributed to the Debt Management Office.
The government has also disputed Obi’s assertion that he left the state without salary-related obligations, specifically citing claims concerning workers of the Anambra State Water Corporation.
Obi has maintained that he left office without owing salaries, pensions, gratuities or verified obligations to contractors and has challenged the state government to produce documentary evidence supporting its claims.
Okonkwo’s latest comments therefore introduce a new dimension to the dispute, given his previous role as one of Obi’s most prominent public defenders during the 2023 presidential campaign.
He also indicated that his approach to scrutinising Obi would be different ahead of the 2027 election, saying that while he campaigned for Obi in 2023, his role would now amount to a “cross-examination.”
The underlying claims over the loans, outstanding liabilities and the financial position inherited by subsequent administrations remain contested by the parties involved.
