Peter Obi gave Nigerians an account number and said: prove me wrong and I'll stop campaigning. So I followed the account.
Most financial claims in Nigerian politics are built so that nobody can audit them. A state was transformed, nothing was inherited, billions were saved, every obligation was cleared, and by the time anyone asks for the ledger the conversation has moved on to another television studio. On 15 September Peter Obi did something different. He named a bank, gave an account number, stated a balance and explained why the money was there. Then he added the sentence politicians almost never attach to a number: "If anybody can establish anything to the contrary, I will stop campaigning."
Whether he stops campaigning is his business. I was interested in the first half of that sentence. Once a politician gives you an account number, an amount and a story for how the money got there, the question is no longer whether you like him. It is a records question. So I started with the account and worked backwards: his own handover documents, the Debt Management Office's historical tables, the Anambra Government's reply, and the World Bank files behind the loans now being argued about.
What I found does not give either camp the story it wants. That is usually a sign you are looking at the record and not at the campaign.
FILE 01: THE ACCOUNT
Obi's statement is unusually precise. He says about ₦2 billion in federal ecological funds was released "barely three months before the end of my tenure for the Oko/Umuchiana erosion crisis", that he refused to spend it because it was tied to that project, and that it was "left 100 per cent intact in First Bank, in Account No. 2018779464, with a balance of over ₦2.13 billion." He adds that such earmarked funds were not part of "the over ₦75 billion in savings we left behind."
Before anyone calls ₦2.13 billion a number invented for a 2026 argument, look at the document his own side has published. The sheet of certified state and ministry balances from the March 2014 handover, photographed and posted with Obi's handover record, lists fourteen accounts. Line 3 reads "ECOLOGICAL FUNDS ACCOUNT BALANCE" at ₦2,139,951,400.00. I added all fourteen lines myself. They come to ₦28,165,985,574.06, exactly the total printed at the bottom of the sheet.
Two things on that sheet matter. The ecological money is listed as its own account, separate from line 1, the "STATE CASH BOOK BALANCE". And the sheet names no bank and no account number for it. So the 2014 paper supports the amount and supports the idea of a dedicated account. It does not show that the dedicated account was 2018779464. That is the exact point the Anambra Government now disputes.
FILE 02: THE GOVERNMENT SAYS IT WENT TO THE BANK
In its statement of 26 September, the Anambra State Government says First Bank, in a letter dated 16 September 2026, confirmed three things: that Account 2018779464 "is actually the ANSG IGR Consolidated Account, that is, account for Internally Generated Revenue"; that on 17 March 2014 its balance "was not close to N2 billion"; and that at no point in the account's active life from 2011 to 2018 did ₦2.13 billion appear in it. PREMIUM TIMES reported on 16 September that the commissioner said the state had obtained "a certified print out of the said First Bank account from inception to date."
If the bank's own letter and statement say what the government says they say, Obi has a problem to explain: his 2014 sheet carries an ecological-funds account, and the account number he gave in 2026 would not be it.
But the standard has to be the same for both sides. I can read Obi's statement. I can read the government's statement. I can read the handover sheet, the DMO tables and the World Bank files below. What I have not found published anywhere is the First Bank letter of 16 September or the certified account statement. Until they are public, "the Anambra Government says First Bank confirmed X" and "First Bank's records show X" are two different sentences, and I will only write the first one.
What the record allows today is narrower, and it holds: Obi has tied the ecological fund to Account 2018779464; the government says the bank's records identify that account as an IGR account that never held the money; and the one document that settles it has been described but not shown.
FILE 03: THE DEBT OFFICE DOES NOT ASK US TO TRUST EITHER SIDE
The bank dispute needs the bank's paper. The debt question does not, because the Debt Management Office still publishes its historical tables.
The DMO's "Federal and State Governments External Debt Stock as at 31st December 2013" lists Anambra at S/No. 4 with $30,323,574.40. The whole amount sits in the multilateral column. The bilateral and commercial columns for Anambra are empty. The DMO's "Total Domestic Debt Stock for the 36 States and FCT for 2013 (Revised)" lists Anambra at S/No. 4 with ₦3,025,797,046.67.
Obi left office on 17 March 2014, not on 31 December 2013, and there is no DMO table for that day. PREMIUM TIMES reported that a search of the DMO database for March 2014 returned an error page. But December 2013 is the last table before the handover, and Obi himself has now closed most of the gap. In an interview on Arise News, reported by PREMIUM TIMES on 28 September, he said: "At the time I assumed the office of the state (as governor), our foreign debts recorded was about $18 million. At the time I left office in March 2014, our foreign debt position was about $30 million."
That matters because this argument keeps putting several different claims under one word. Not taking a commercial loan is not the same as having no debt stock. Assets exceeding liabilities is not the same as having no liabilities. The official tables show Anambra carried about $30.32 million in external debt, all of it multilateral, and about ₦3.03 billion in domestic debt at the end of 2013. Obi's own figure agrees.
That is not an accusation. It is a debt table.
FILE 04: THE HANDOVER LETTER HIS OWN SIDE PUBLISHES
The handover letter Obi's side publishes lists, for the close of his last working day, local investments of ₦27 billion, a foreign-currency investment of US$156 million valued at ₦26.5 billion, the certified state and ministry balances of ₦28,165,985,574.06, and an approved federal refund of ₦10 billion. Those add to ₦91,665,985,574.06. The letter then deducts ₦5 billion of estimated liabilities, described as March salaries, pensions and certificates for work already done, and arrives at a net balance of ₦86,665,985,574.06.
A March salary is not an arrear, and an approved certificate is not a default, so the ₦5 billion is not proof of unpaid bills. But it is also not nothing. A statement that lists large investments and cash and then deducts estimated liabilities is describing a state whose assets exceeded its obligations. It is not describing a state with no obligations. Those are different claims, and political language keeps treating them as opposites when the accounting does not.
FILE 05: THE $123.77 MILLION
The Anambra Government says Obi's administration "signed 8 loans from the IDA-World Bank over his eight-year tenure, totalling US$123,771,179.30, and even disbursed some of it before leaving office." PREMIUM TIMES reports the government's figure of $92.35 million still outstanding on 30 June 2026, and quotes the commissioner as saying Obi "drew down part of the loans" but paid none of the amount drawn before leaving office.
It is easy to turn that into a headline: Obi left $123.77 million of debt. The government's own sentence does not support the headline. "Signed" is the facility size. "Disbursed some" is a smaller number. The amount outstanding on 17 March 2014 is a third number. Neither the government nor anyone else I can find has published the third one, facility by facility.
The DMO table gives a ceiling for it, on the DMO's own count. If Anambra's entire external debt at 31 December 2013 was $30.32 million, the part of these IDA facilities recorded as Anambra's debt by then was at most that. That is my arithmetic on the DMO table, not a DMO statement. So $123.77 million describes what was signed. It does not describe what the official tables show Obi handed over.
FILE 06: WHAT THE WORLD BANK FILES SAY ABOUT HOW THESE LOANS WORK
Two World Bank documents show why the signed amount and the handed-over debt are different things.
The environmental framework for the State Education Program Investment Project describes "a US$150 million Specific Investment Credit to the Federal Government of Nigeria, which in turn will disburse the funds to the participating Project states (Anambra, Bauchi, Edo and Ekiti) through subsidiary financing agreements," over the period 2013 to 2016. The credit is signed at federal level, and each state's share arrives over the life of the project.
The Implementation Status Report for the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) says the project was approved on 8 May 2012, "became effective on September 13, 2013", and that "all the seven participating states have executed subsidiary agreements with the Federal Ministry of Finance." Anambra is one of the seven. The project became effective six months before Obi left. This report does not say how much of Anambra's share had been drawn by March 2014, and neither does anything else I could find.
None of this says the obligations are fake or improper. The government says Anambra is still repaying these loans today, and nothing here contradicts that. It says that the ledger, not the headline size of the facility, decides what was owed on 17 March 2014.
FILE 07: WHERE THE RECORD LEAVES US
On the account, Obi's side has real paper for the amount: a certified 2014 sheet lists an ecological-funds account at ₦2,139,951,400.00. The government says the specific account Obi named in 2026 is an IGR account that never held that money, and says First Bank confirmed it. The sheet does not name the bank or the number. The bank's letter has not been published. The contradiction is exact, and it is still unresolved.
On debt, the record is clearer. The DMO shows $30,323,574.40 in external debt, all multilateral, and ₦3,025,797,046.67 in domestic debt at December 2013. Obi puts the foreign debt at about $30 million when he left. His own handover letter deducts ₦5 billion of estimated liabilities. A claim that the state had no debt at all does not fit the debt tables or his own letter. And the government's $123.77 million cannot be presented as the debt Obi handed over, because the DMO table caps the external debt at $30.32 million three months before he left.
This is not a case where one politician produces a number, another produces a bigger one, and I choose whichever I liked before I started. It is about definitions, dates and documents. A signed facility is not a drawdown. A drawdown is not an outstanding balance. Assets exceeding liabilities does not mean no liabilities. And a government describing a bank letter is not the same as publishing it.
WHAT I AM NOT SAYING
I am not saying Peter Obi took the ₦2.13 billion. Nothing I have seen shows that, and resolving it needs the bank's records. I am not saying Anambra was broke when he left: the handover letter lists large balances and investments, and PREMIUM TIMES reports that his successor later acknowledged inheriting funds. I am not saying the World Bank loans for education and erosion control were wrong to sign. And I am not saying Obi drew $123.77 million, because the DMO's own table rules that out as the debt at the end of 2013.
What I am saying is smaller. Obi made a claim precise enough to test. Part of it survives: the amount is on his 2014 sheet as its own account. Part of it now depends on a bank letter only one side has seen. The debt tables show Anambra had external and domestic debt when he left, and he agrees about the external figure. The government's larger number describes what was signed, not what was owed.
The single most useful document in this whole dispute is the First Bank letter of 16 September 2026.
Publish it.
THE DOCUMENTS THAT WOULD END THIS
The Anambra Government should publish the First Bank letter of 16 September 2026 in full, and the certified statement for Account 2018779464 around the ecological-fund release and the 17 March 2014 handover. If 2018779464 is not the account behind line 3 of the handover sheet, Obi's side should name the account that is. And for the eight IDA facilities, the Ministry of Finance and the state should publish the subsidiary agreements with drawdowns, repayments and the balance on 17 March 2014.
Then nobody has to believe Peter Obi, the Anambra Government or me.
We can read the record.
I am writing the URLs out in full on purpose. Open them, check the dates, search the numbers. If anything above is wrong, the correction starts with the document.
SOURCE 1: Peter Obi's statement of 15 September 2026
Full text. Search the page for 2018779464, ₦2.13 billion and "stop campaigning".
https://precisepost.ng/obi-debunks-phantom-debts-and-ecological-loan-fallacy/
Independent report of the same statement:
https://punchng.com/obi-rejects-anambra-debt-claims-vows-to-end-2027-campaign-if-proven-wrong/
SOURCE 2: DMO, Anambra external debt, 31 December 2013
Official Debt Management Office table. Go to S**/No. 4, Anambra**: $30,323,574.40 all in the multilateral column. (The DMO has moved its archive. The old /debt-profile/ links now return "not found"; these are the current ones.)
SOURCE 3: DMO, Anambra domestic debt, 2013 (revised)
"Total Domestic Debt Stock for the 36 States and FCT for 2013 (Revised)". Go to S/No. 4, Anambra: ₦3,025,797,046.67
SOURCE 4: PREMIUM TIMES, 28 September 2026, by Ekemini Simon and Chinagorom Ugwu
The reporters compared the DMO series, Obi's handover letter, his Arise News interview and the government's $123.77m case. Read "What the DMO records show", "Peter Obi's admission", "Obi's handover letter and Obiano's later admission of inherited funds", "Commissioner responds to PREMIUM TIMES" and "What we can establish". Obi's $18m and $30m quote, the $92.35m outstanding figure and the commissioner's "drew down part of the loans" are all here.
Same article on all Africa, if the original will not load:
https://allafrica.com/stories/202609280452.html
SOURCE 5: Anambra State Government statement, 26 September 2026
The government's own case, so read it as that, not as independent proof. Section (b) has the eight IDA loans and US$123,771,179.30. Section (e) has the First Bank letter of 16 September and the IGR account.
https://anambrastate.gov.ng/peter-obis-debts-and-lies-more-questions-than-answers/
The limit is simple: the letter and the certified statement it describes have not been published.
SOURCE 6: PREMIUM TIMES, 16 September 2026, on the certified First Bank printout
Section "N2.1 billion ecological funds": the commissioner says the state obtained "a certified print out of the said First Bank account from inception to date" and that it is an Internally Generated Revenue account.
SOURCE 7: The 2014 handover letter and the certified balances sheet
Published by Obi's side with photographs of the documents, so treat it as his side's account, not as independent verification. Look at the photographed balances sheet: line 3, "ECOLOGICAL FUNDS ACCOUNT BALANCE, ₦2,139,951,400.00", total ₦28,165,985,574.06. No bank and no account number are given for line 3.
https://peterobi.online/governor/
SOURCE 8: World Bank, State Education Program Investment Project
Chapter Two, section 2.1, PDF page 16: "a US$150 million Specific Investment Credit to the Federal Government of Nigeria, which in turn will disburse the funds to the participating Project states (Anambra, Bauchi, Edo and Ekiti) through subsidiary financing agreements."
SOURCE 9: World Bank, Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (P124905), Implementation Status Report No. 6
Page 2, "Implementation Status and Key Decisions": approved 8 May 2012, "became effective on September 13, 2013", and "all the seven participating states have executed subsidiary agreements with the Federal Ministry of Finance."
If you find a number I copied wrong, bring the page. If there is a drawdown I missed, bring the ledger. If First Bank's letter settles Account 2018779464, publish it. That is a better standard than deciding which politician to believe before opening the first PDF.
This is the last investigation I will publish here in this format. Reddit has been useful because people attack the work, challenge the numbers and demand the source underneath. The next step is a record where the document sits beside the finding it supports, not at the bottom of a post: document, page, figure, the evidence against it, and the question still open.
Tomorrow that record opens.
VERO RECORD, verorecord.com
No side protected. No allegation pushed past its evidence. If the document contradicts the politician, the document stays.
The record opens October 1.
About this dispatch
This is a public post by Dr Vero, archived here as published, with its full text and every graphic that accompanied it. Dispatches are written for a general audience and are not graded: they are a record of what was said publicly and when, not a sourced report.
Graded, document-sourced reporting is kept separate, in the newsroom and the dossiers.