By BONIFACE AKARAH

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (InterSociety) has defended the financial record of former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, saying he left the state in what it described as its “soundest financial regime” despite not clearing every outstanding statutory debt before leaving office.

In a statement dated September 22, 2026, and signed by its Lead-Director, Emeka Umeagbalasi, alongside Chinwe Umeche, Chidinma Evangeline Udegbunam and Obianuju Joy Igboeli, InterSociety said its assessment was intended to present what it called “the truth beyond murky waters of politics” surrounding Anambra’s public debt history under Obi, Willie Obiano and Governor Chukwuma Soludo.

The organisation said Obi inherited substantial financial obligations despite inheriting N13.8 billion in cash from the administration of former governor Chris Ngige, adding that a panel headed by Justice Ononiba later confirmed the cash position but also identified outstanding contractual obligations and unpaid remunerations involving serving and retired workers.

InterSociety said, “That the Obi Administration consistently maintained zero borrowing policy and refused to borrow a dime locally or internationally. That the Obi Administration drew its major financial strengths from counter-part funding partnerships, international grants and credit facilities from international development partners and institutions and also effectively participated in numerous counter-part funding projects of Federal Government, likewise direct and indirect foreign investments and Public-Private-Partnership Initiatives.”

The group further claimed that Obi’s administration paid down much of the inherited obligations, including debts, contractual commitments and more than N25 billion in inherited pension and gratuity liabilities.

It said, “That in the end, the Obi Administration was able to liquidate most of the previously incurred public debts (local and foreign), contractual obligations and serving and retired public workforce remunerations including over N25billion un-cleared pensions and gratuities majorly inherited from the time of Mbadinuju.”

According to InterSociety, Debt Management Office figures showed Anambra’s debt position at the end of the Obi administration was considerably lower than figures recorded in earlier years, although it acknowledged that outstanding local and foreign obligations remained.

The organisation said that as of March 2014, its reading of DMO figures placed the state’s foreign debt at $30.32 million and local debt at about N3.03 billion, while arguing that the subsequent increase in recorded foreign debt and the N12.07 billion figure cited in some records required careful consideration of the dates involved.

InterSociety also disputed the suggestion that Obi left Anambra without substantial financial resources, saying his administration left cash and investments which it estimated at between N85 billion and N95 billion.

“Sum-total of the above clearly showed that though Obi left the State in soundest financial regime including cash and investments of between N85billion and N95billion—including total cash value of local investments of N27.2Billion as at March 17, 2014, total cash value of Foreign Currency (dollar) Bond Investments of $155.48Million or N26.5Billion and total cash of N41.48Billion left in the MDAs accounts and so on,” the organisation said.

The statement, however, acknowledged that not all liabilities had been extinguished by the time Obi handed over power to Willie Obiano in March 2014, including a disputed obligation involving workers of the Anambra State Water Corporation.

The intervention comes amid an ongoing dispute over the financial position Obi left behind. The Anambra State Government has alleged that eight external loans associated with Obi’s tenure remained outstanding, putting the balance at $92.35 million, or about N127.37 billion at the June 2026 exchange rate. Obi and his former officials have disputed the state government’s characterization of his financial record.

InterSociety said the debate should be separated from political considerations and assessed against the financial records and obligations inherited, incurred and settled by each administration.