The Presidential Candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Peter Obi, has challenged institutions to make his official records public, including his academic documents, insisting that he has nothing to hide.
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The former Anambra State governor made the call during an interview on 90 Minutes Africa, while responding to questions about claims by Nigeria’s Ambassador-Designate to Mexico, Mr. Reno Omokri, that presidential candidates in the country have files with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
He said he was unaware of having any such file and had never had dealings with the agency. “I don’t know. I’ve never met the FBI,” he said.
Mr. Obi said that anyone seeking public office should be prepared to submit to comprehensive scrutiny and accountability, and he directed a specific request to his alma mater.
“I’m begging the University of Nigeria to make available every document in my file, how I was admitted and all my results from year one to final year,” he said.
He also urged the institutions where he attended executive programmes to release his records for public scrutiny, naming Lagos Business School, the London School of Economics, Columbia Business School, the Kellogg School of Management, Harvard Business School, Oxford, Cambridge, INSEAD and IMD.
“If you seek public life, you should subject yourself to public scrutiny, because you are a leader and you must exemplify the values that make society work,” he said.
He challenged the other presidential candidates to adopt the same posture, saying that politicians with questionable records should be prepared to explain their past to Nigerians, and that public officials should not shy away from scrutiny but should be willing to account for their past actions and records.
The question of Mr. Obi’s credentials entered this election season after a politician, Mr. Abayomi Arabambi, sued the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, over its alleged refusal to release details of the candidate’s academic record.
In an originating motion marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2144/2026, filed by his counsel, Mr. Anderson Asemota, on 9 September at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the applicant, a former factional spokesperson of the Labour Party, named the Vice-Chancellor and the university as first and second respondents.
He seeks an order of mandamus compelling the respondents to perform their statutory duty under the Freedom of Information Act 2011 by determining and responding to his request dated 16 July.
In the affidavit setting out the facts, Mr. Arabambi deposed that by the letter of 16 July 2026 he requested a Certified True Copy of Certificate No. D000198, stated to have been issued by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to Gregory Peter Onwubuasi Obi in respect of a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy in 1984.
“The applicant also requested a Certified True Copy of the certificate, academic record or other official records upon which the said degree was predicated,” he stated.
“The said request was duly delivered to and received by the respondents on 6th August, 2026. The applicant expressly made the request pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, and stated the public-interest and accountability basis for the request. The respondents failed and/or neglected to provide the requested information within the period prescribed by the Act.”
He further deposed that the respondents did not communicate to him a written notice of refusal identifying the specific provision of the Act relied upon in refusing access.
In a separate but related controversy over his record in office, Mr. Obi has challenged the Anambra State Government to produce evidence that his administration left behind unpaid obligations, rejecting the claim that the state is still servicing loans incurred during his tenure.
He was responding to a statement by the state Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Izuchukwu Okafor, who said deductions were still being made from Anambra’s monthly federal allocation to service loans obtained by previous administrations, including those of Mr. Obi and his successor, Mr. Willie Obiano. The commissioner spoke on the Voice of Ndi Anambra Podcast, and Mr. Obi responded in a video released afterwards.
“As at the day I left office, I was not owing any salary, pension, or gratuity that Anambra State Government is supposed to pay,” he said.
“I was not owing any supplier or contractor that had executed his job and his documents processed, not one. The day I left office, I paid what was due to be paid. I wasn’t owing any contractors.”
The former governor sought to distinguish between money belonging to the state and funds he said had been earmarked for specific projects before he handed over.
He disclosed that about N2.1 billion was standing in an ecological fund account with First Bank at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University branch when he left office, and said the money had been released by the Federal Government for a particular erosion control project and was therefore not available for general spending.
“The day I left office, I had an account in the First Bank of Nigeria, a branch in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, an ecological fund account with a balance of about N2.1 billion,” he said. “I had it in the bank. And it is not included in the money I left, reason being that it was dedicated specifically for a particular erosion project that was supposed to be ongoing.”
He said members of his administration had wanted the fund spent before the end of his tenure, but that he refused on the ground that government should operate as a continuum.
“My people were saying, ‘let’s expend this money.’ But I kept telling them, government is a continuity and I want the person coming after me to succeed,” he said.
He then staked his candidacy on the point: “I say it again, if you go to the account, I’m going to give you the account number. I have given you the bank and the branch. If you see anything contrary to the day I left office, I will stop campaigning.”
The latest exchange revives a financial disagreement that has followed the transition from Mr. Obi to Mr. Obiano and has resurfaced periodically over the past decade.
In 2015, the Obiano administration said it inherited about N185.1 billion in liabilities from the Obi government, a claim rejected by Mr. Obi’s camp, which maintained that the former governor left substantial cash and investments and no outstanding debt.
The disagreement was not confined to liabilities. The Obiano administration disputed Mr. Obi’s claim that he handed over about N75 billion, saying it inherited about N9 billion in cash and N26 billion in near-cash assets. Mr. Obi’s representatives rejected that account.
Official records add a further dimension. The Debt Management Office’s figures show that Anambra carried both domestic and external obligations around the end of Mr. Obi’s tenure, comprising external debt of about 30.3 million dollars and domestic debt of about N3.03 billion as at 31 December 2013.
Mr. Obi governed Anambra from 2006 to 2014, his tenure having been interrupted when the State House of Assembly impeached him in November 2006. He returned to office following a court ruling and completed his term before handing over to Mr. Obiano on 17 March 2014.
Mr. Obi also addressed the political dimension of his disagreement with Governor Chukwuma Soludo, saying the governor and his colleagues were entitled to support whichever presidential candidate they preferred.
“It’s about over 30 governors today supporting the president. And it is politics and their right to support whoever they want,” he said. “I’m not urging them to support me. I am only urging them to allow free, fair and credible elections. I’m talking to the people because they have only one vote.”
He noted that his 2023 campaign was conducted without the support of serving councillors or governors, and argued that the same principle should apply in 2027.
“But it is the people of Nigeria that will decide, not the governors, unless they’re going to write the results or rig the election, which is what I’m preaching against. Let it be a free, fair and credible election. Whatever the people decide, I will respect it,” he said.
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