Anambra Govt attacks Peter Obi over APGA ahead of 2027, accusing him of undermining the party as his camp pushes back against the claims
The Anambra State Government, led by Governor Charles Soludo, on Monday, October 5, 2026, urged voters in Anambra State to resist former governor and Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate Peter Obi in the 2027 general election, accusing the former governor of undermining the All Progressives Grand Alliance since leaving the party.
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The intervention, issued through the New Media Office attached to Governor Soludo, marks a fresh escalation in the increasingly public political differences between the Anambra Government and Obi, who governed the state from 2006 to 2014.
In a message titled “A Betrayal Alert for Ndi APGA”, the state government told APGA supporters to defend the party and reject the NDC ahead of the presidential election.
The government alleged that Obi had pursued an agenda against APGA since leaving the party in 2014.
“Since 2014, Obi has had one mission: to destroy the party that made him,” the government said.
It also claimed that President Bola Tinubu supported APGA while Obi backed opposition forces against the party, adding: “Do not be deceived by a man who abandoned his own house. Anambra is APGA. Ndi APGA, defend your home, resist the NDC.”
The allegation comes at a politically significant moment for Anambra, where APGA has maintained a strong presence and currently controls the state government under Soludo.
Obi became governor on the APGA platform and served for eight years, although his first tenure was briefly interrupted by his impeachment in 2006.
He eventually completed his tenure and left office in March 2014.
He formally departed APGA later that year and joined the Peoples Democratic Party.
His subsequent political journey took him through the PDP and Labour Party before his emergence as the NDC’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
The latest dispute therefore carries more than a personal dimension.
It reflects a broader contest over APGA’s political identity, Obi’s legacy in Anambra and the direction of the state’s electorate ahead of another presidential election.
The NDC has rejected the latest attack.
Theo Abu Agada, the party’s Director of New Media and Strategic Communications, argued that the Soludo administration’s criticism reflected concern over Obi’s political influence rather than evidence that Obi posed a threat to APGA.
The exchange has also unfolded against the backdrop of a separate and increasingly contentious dispute over Anambra’s finances.
In September, Izuchukwu Okafor, the state’s Commissioner for Finance, said the Soludo administration was still servicing financial obligations associated with previous administrations, including Obi’s government.
The Anambra Government subsequently published details of eight external facilities linked to projects undertaken during Obi’s tenure.
It put the combined contracted value at about $123.77 million, with an outstanding balance of $92.35 million as of June 30, 2026, citing figures attributed to the Debt Management Office.
The state later described the outstanding obligations as roughly N127.4 billion at the official exchange rate applicable to its calculation.
Obi has strongly disputed that interpretation.
The former governor said the government was combining different categories of financing and presenting the resulting figure as though it represented money he personally borrowed and left behind.
“As Governor of Anambra State, I did not approach any financial institution to borrow funds or issue a bond on behalf of the state,” Obi said.
Obi argued that the facilities were primarily multilateral development programmes involving institutions such as the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, with participating states accessing the programmes through arrangements involving the Federal Government.
He maintained that the amount approved, the amount actually drawn and the balance outstanding at different points in time must be distinguished before conclusions are drawn about his administration’s financial obligations.
The dispute has consequently produced two sharply different accounts.
The Soludo administration says its records show external facilities contracted during Obi’s tenure and continuing repayment obligations.
Obi argues that describing the entire contracted value as debt he left behind is misleading because not all approved facilities necessarily represented funds drawn and spent during his administration.
The disagreement has also extended to Obi’s claims about the financial position he left behind.
Obi has said that he left office without unpaid salaries, pensions, gratuities or verified obligations to contractors who had completed and processed their work.
He has also maintained that his administration left substantial funds for the incoming government.
The Anambra Government has challenged aspects of those claims, creating an unusually detailed public argument over the former governor’s economic record.
The political disagreement is occurring alongside Soludo’s own positioning ahead of 2027.
The governor has previously declared support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, citing a longstanding relationship with the President and his assessment of the Federal Government’s economic reforms.
APGA subsequently announced its support for Tinubu’s 2027 presidential bid following consultations within the party.
That alignment places Soludo’s administration and Obi on opposite sides of an increasingly important political contest.
For Obi, Anambra remains central to his political history. His eight-year administration established him as one of APGA’s most prominent national figures before his departure from the party opened a new chapter in his political career.
For Soludo and APGA, however, the priority is maintaining the party’s political base in a state where APGA has governed for much of the democratic era.
The latest statement from the Anambra Government therefore goes beyond an ordinary disagreement between two former governors.
It represents a direct attempt to frame the 2027 contest in terms of party loyalty, political history and the ownership of APGA’s legacy.
The competing narratives are now firmly established.
The Anambra Government says Obi abandoned the political platform that produced him and subsequently worked against its interests.
Obi and his political allies dispute that interpretation and have pointed instead to his record in office and the wider national political issues surrounding the 2027 election.
With the 2027 election still ahead, the debate is likely to remain prominent in Anambra, particularly as APGA seeks to consolidate its position while Obi‘s NDC campaign attempts to build support in his former political stronghold.
For voters, the unfolding contest now involves not only competing political platforms, but also sharply different accounts of Obi’s legacy, APGA’s history and the financial record of the administration that governed Anambra between 2006 and 2014.
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As of Monday, October 5, 2026, Obi had not issued a direct response to the latest accusation from the Anambra State Government that he sought to undermine APGA.
