List of former Governors who left high domestic debts; Wike, Ayade named

A list of former governors who left office with high domestic debts for their successors have been released.

Ranking first, second and third respectively, are immediate past governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, immediate past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike and the immediate past governor of Cross River State, Senator Ben Ayade.

Okowa after leaving office, went on to become the running mate of Atiku Abubakar on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election.

Nyesom Wike, a member of the PDP, currently serves as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu.

A data released by a data tech company, Statsense Consult Limited, popularly known as Statsense, Okowa left a domestic debt of N465.4 billion for his successor, Sheriff Oborevwori, while Wike left a domestic debt of N225.51 billion for his successor, Siminalayi Fubara, and Ayade left a domestic debt of N204.05 billion for his successor, Bassey Otu.

Other former governors in the list and the domestic debt inherited by their successors include

Udom Gabriel Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom state, N199.58 billion

Samuel Ortom of Benue State, N186.94 billion

Simon Lalong of Plateau State, N157.62 billion

Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, N142.47 billion

Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, N122.36 billion

Abubakar Bello of Niger State, N121.95 billion

Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State, N96.31 billion

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, N93.2 billion

Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, N91.68 billion

Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, N87.28 billion

Darius Ishaku of Taraba State, N83.13 billion

David Umahi of Ebonyi State, N76.14 billion

Aminu Bello of Katsina State, N62.37 billion

Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State, N60.94 billion

Mohammed Abubakar of Jigawa State, N43.13 billion

Some of the successors have lamented the impact the debt has on their government.