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.