Abia State Governor Alex Otti has offered a fresh challenge to the ongoing debate over former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi’s financial legacy, insisting that he personally witnessed the process through which millions of dollars belonging to the state were invested.
Otti, who was Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Bank when Obi was concluding his tenure as Anambra governor, said he was “part of the process” and could testify that the funds Obi said he left behind were actually left for the state.
The governor said Obi had initially wanted to leave the money in cash, but financial advisers advised against keeping such a large amount idle. According to Otti, about $155m was converted from naira and invested in Eurobonds and the Tier-2 capital of some Nigerian banks.
Otti’s intervention adds a significant dimension to the renewed controversy over Obi’s financial record, because his account is based on his claim of direct involvement in the banking arrangements rather than simply political support for the former governor.
The comments, which have resurfaced amid the latest debate over Obi’s Anambra record, were made by Otti in 2022 when he was discussing the controversy surrounding the funds and investments allegedly handed over by Obi after leaving office in 2014.
At the time, Otti said: “Peter Obi actually left all the money he said he left.” He explained that the funds were invested rather than kept entirely in cash, with some of the investments having maturities extending beyond Obi’s tenure.
The former Diamond Bank chief also said he had documented his position in an earlier article and maintained that he was speaking from knowledge of the financial arrangements.
The controversy centres on what Obi actually left behind when he handed over power in March 2014 and how those funds and investments were subsequently accounted for.
Obi has previously maintained that he left substantial cash and investments for Anambra. In an earlier interview, he said he left more than N25bn in local investments and cash and about $156m in banks in Nigeria, while stressing that the figures could be supported with bank documents and statements.
The latest debate has intensified following questions raised over the description of various development programmes and financial obligations associated with the Obi administration.
Otti’s account therefore provides another historical testimony that can be examined alongside the state government’s records, Obi’s handover documents, bank statements and the original financing agreements.
Rather than settling the controversy on its own, Otti’s testimony puts greater focus on the documentary trail: how much money was held, where it was invested, who authorised the investments, what was handed over in 2014 and what happened to the assets afterwards.
Those records are central to determining the competing claims over Obi’s financial legacy in Anambra.