By Olusegun Olanrewaju
New in the saddle, Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, yesterday threw a bombshell on the dilapidated state of the treasury of ‘the Light of the Nation’ state.

Soludo took one long look at the purse of the state and hissed away, ‘I met only N300m in the treasury, N100 billion debt’
Anambra is broke, he furiously entrusts revealing that the financial status left by his predecessor, Willie Obiano, is flatly in deep red.

Obiano is currently in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) singing songs over alleged corruption in office.

He was the object of drama on Thursday when news of his ‘capture’ at the Lagos airport went viral, followed by a leaked video of his cooling the heels in the anti-graft commission’s annex office in Lagos, for which an official has been reprimanded.
Before that, Soludo had been embarrassed at the inauguration last week when the former first lady, Ebele Obiano, engaged in a public brawl with Bianca, the widow of the former Biafran warlord, the late Emeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu.

Soludo had to wail, sending a warning signal to the treasury of states in the country as closely monitored by anti-corruption forces.

In a revelation early yesterday, in his first post-inauguration interview on ARISE TV, Soludo decried the state of the Anambra treasury, describing it as ‘funny and pathetic’.

According to him, the bulk of what he inherited was a huge N100 billion debt. Only N300 million, he added, was left in cash in the Anambra State treasury on hand.

The governor acknowledged that the amount represents a far cry from what ex-governor Obiano’s predecessor, Peter Obi, left behind at the end of his tenure.

Reports say that Obi, throughout his tenure did not borrow, but instead left several billions of naira and millions of United States dollars, in cash and investments.

Meanwhile, broad-talking Soludo has expressed hope that his government would ‘make enough money to fulfil his promises of infrastructure and development to keep the wheel of governance in his state going.
“In terms of debt I inherited, it runs into hundreds of billions of naira. In cash, we met about N300 million only.

“Let’s not talk about it. Our treasury is funny. But I hope we shall make money henceforth to help us fulfill our promises for infrastructure and development of the state.

“But in terms of what I met in our coffers, my brother, it’s pathetic. Please let us not go there. God will help us,” he said.
The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria further stated that other financial details from January to date were not available.

He, however, noted that the details would be made available as soon as possible because they are public documents.

The EFCC arrested Obiano at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, reportedly on his way to the United States of America after handing over to Soludo.

The anti-graft agency subsequently transferred Obiano to the headquarters of the commission, where he was quizzed for days over alleged mismanagement of N42 billion and inflated contract.

Obiano, according to reports on Tuesday, is still in the custody of the commission despite being granted bail, because of his alleged inability to perfect his bail conditions.

The leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) had been ordered to produce two directors on Grade level 17 in the Federal Civil Service, as one of the conditions for him to be released.

The Aguleri-born politician was also ordered to produce two federal directors who must be landlords in the high-brow neighbourhoods of Maitama, Asokoro, or the Wuse district of Abuja.
Unconfirmed reports said the former governor’s travel documents could have been seized by the anti-graft agency, pending the conclusion of an investigation into his financial activities while in office as governor.

It had earlier been widely reported that Obiano was being shadowed for investigation by the Abdulrasheed Bawa-led EFCC for fraud and embezzlement.

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Earlier reports had also claimed that the embattled governor was being quizzed over N5 billion SURE-P funds, and alleged embezzlement of N37bn security vote.

Sources also alleged that the EFCC had other petitions alleging corruption against Obiano.

A petition listed the N17bn Paris Club refund to the state as one of the objects of the probe.

“There are also petitions alleging inflated projects, including the Umueri International Airport project, whose cost was believed to be exaggerated.

“The EFCC has been doing its investigations all this while and is convinced that Obiano has a case to answer,” a source added.

In September 2021, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra had asked the anti-graft agency to probe the finances of the state to unearth “monumental deception”.

Spokesman of the commission, Wilson Uwajaren, had said on the ex-governors arrest: “Obiano had been on our watch list for some time now. He had immunity as a governor and that was why we could not arrest him before now.

“Today he lost his immunity and was traveling out of the country before we finally arrested him. Obiano was arrested and he is still in our custody.”

In a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, in January, a transparency group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) highlighted a recent report by Transparency International (TI), indicating that “most of the funds appropriated as security votes are spent on political activities, mismanaged or simply stolen. It is estimated that security votes add up to over N241.2b every year.”

The group urged Buhari to instruct the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to “jointly track and monitor spending of security votes” by the 36 state governors.

It noted that, paradoxically, in Nigeria security votes are usually not for security purposes.

In 2020, for instance, a former governor of Abia State from 2007 to 2015, Senator Theodore Orji, told the EFCC how he spent N38.8bn security votes in eight years for other purposes, showing that security votes do not mean what they should mean.

The former governor was reported saying he received N370m monthly as a security vote in 2007, and N410m monthly from 2008 to 2015.

Obiano could not be reached yesterday night for comments.