2.13bn Ecological Fund: Anambra Govt Says Bank Records Contradict Obi

The Anambra State Government has challenged former Governor Peter Obi to explain the whereabouts of an alleged ₦2.13 billion ecological fund he says he left behind when he handed over power in 2014.

The dispute centres on First Bank account number 2018779464, which Obi’s camp identified as the account where the money was allegedly kept.

But the Soludo administration says a certified statement of the account does not support that claim.

Speaking on TVC News’ Beyond the Headlines, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Chukwuma Soludo on Media, Ebuka Oyekelu, said the account existed but that the government found no evidence of the alleged ₦2.13 billion passing through it.

He said the account was domiciled at First Bank’s Nnamdi Azikiwe University branch and existed from 2011 until it was closed in 2018.

“There was no time within the lifespan of the account that such an amount of money entered the account,” Oyekelu said.

He further alleged that the account was an Internally Generated Revenue consolidated account rather than an ecological fund account.

The claim is consistent with a statement issued by Anambra Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, who said the government obtained a certified printout of the account and found no record of the amount cited by Obi.

Obi’s camp has disputed the government’s position.

According to reports of his response, his media aide, Valentine Obienyem, said the money was an ecological fund allocation for erosion control in Ekwulobia and maintained that ₦2.139 billion remained in the account at the time Obi left office.

The former governor has also challenged the Anambra government to account for the money if it was not where he said he left it.

The competing claims now turn on the documentary evidence: whether the account cited by Obi was indeed the ecological fund account, whether the alleged ₦2.13 billion was ever credited to it, and what happened to the funds if they were held elsewhere.

Oyekelu described Obi’s claim as incorrect and said the government had relied on bank records in making its case.

The dispute is part of a broader confrontation over the financial legacy of the Obi administration, with the Soludo government also alleging that loans contracted during Obi’s tenure remained outstanding when he handed over power in March 2014.