TD The Village Boys Movement (VMB) has challenged the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its spokesman, Dele Alake, to publish complete financial records supporting claims that former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi left the state heavily indebted when he handed over power in 2014.
In a statement dated September 21, 2026, signed by its National Headmaster, Maazi Tochukwu Ezeoke, the group accused the APC of relying on “selective figures” in its ongoing dispute with Obi over Anambra’s finances.
The statement followed renewed controversy after the Anambra State Government said Obi’s administration contracted eight external borrowing facilities.
According to the government, the said debts have original value of $123.77 million, with about $92.35 million still outstanding as of June 30, 2026.
APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesman Dele Alake subsequently challenged Obi to honour an earlier pledge.
Obi had pledged to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race if it was established that he left Anambra with a debt burden.
Village Boys dispute $123.77m figure
The Village Boys Movement argued that the $123.77 million figure should not automatically be described as the debt stock Obi handed over in March 2014.
According to the group, the figure represents the aggregate value of eight external project facilities associated with areas including:
- malaria control,
- education,
- healthcare,
- erosion management, and,
- agricultural development.
It maintained that the original value of a long-term project facility is not necessarily the same as the amount outstanding when a governor leaves office.
The group therefore called for facility-by-facility disclosure of:
- the approval dates,
- amounts actually disbursed,
- balances outstanding on March 17, 2014,
- repayment schedules, and,
- amounts subsequently serviced by succeeding administrations.
The Anambra Government, however, maintains that eight external borrowings remained from Obi’s administration and that succeeding governments have continued servicing them.
The state has also put the outstanding balance of those facilities at about N127.4 billion at the June 30, 2026 exchange rate.
DMO records show $30.32m external debt in 2013
A key issue raised by the Village Boys is the distinction between the value of individual financing facilities and the official debt stock recorded at a particular date.
The Debt Management Office’s published December 31, 2013 external debt-stock table lists Anambra State’s external debt at $30.323 million.
The movement argues that this figure, recorded less than three months before Obi left office, must be reconciled with the $123.77 million currently being cited by the Anambra Government.
It called for publication of the complete DMO debt-stock series from 2006 to 2014 and the underlying agreements for each of the eight facilities.
Dispute over $4.05bn expenditure claim
The Village Boys also challenged the methodology behind the Anambra Government’s claim that Obi spent approximately $4.05 billion.
The state equated this to about N5.4 trillion at current exchange rates, during his eight years in office.
The Anambra Government has said the $4.05 billion was calculated from audited and published expenditure figures using average official exchange rates applicable during Obi’s tenure.
The Village Boys argued that historical expenditure should instead be examined primarily in naira using annual appropriations, audited accounts and financial statements, rather than converting historical expenditure into dollars and subsequently reconverting it at a current exchange rate.
Obi’s reported assets also enter the debate
The group further argued that any assessment of a government’s financial position should consider both liabilities and assets.
At his March 2014 end-of-tenure presentation, Obi said his administration was leaving about N75 billion in savings, investments and other balances, including US$155 million in foreign-currency investments.
Contemporary reports carried the figures and listed investments and expected government refunds among the components.
A later Guardian examination, however, questioned the classification of some of the items included in the N75 billion figure.
This illustrates why the components require documentary reconciliation rather than being treated simply as cash in government coffers.
More recently, a copy of Obi’s March 17, 2014, handover report circulated publicly.
According to Punch, the document listed N27 billion in local investments, US$156 million in foreign-currency investments valued at N26.5 billion, certified state/MDAs balances of about N28.17 billion and an N10 billion Federal Government refund, while also recording estimated liabilities of N5 billion.
Village Boys reject “nothing to show” argument
The movement also rejected the assertion that Obi’s administration left “nothing to show” for its spending.
It pointed to reported investments in infrastructure, education and health, pension and gratuity interventions, strategic assets and financial investments.
The group acknowledged that such claims should themselves be subject to independent verification but argued that they should not be excluded from the historical assessment of the administration.
Water Corporation arrears
The Village Boys also addressed the controversy surrounding a 2006 memo concerning salary arrears owed to workers of the Anambra State Water Corporation.
The group argued that the document, issued in the early months of Obi’s administration, should not be treated as conclusive evidence of eight years of financial mismanagement.
It called for the release of complete payroll records, payment records, arrears schedules, audit reports and subsequent settlement documents before conclusions are drawn about the origin and accumulation of the arrears.
The demand for a complete financial record
The Village Boys Movement has consequently called on the Anambra Government and those making allegations against Obi to publish:
- The complete DMO debt-stock records for Anambra from 2006 to 2014;
- The original agreements covering the eight external facilities;
- The actual amounts disbursed under each facility;
- The outstanding balance of each facility as of March 17, 2014;
- Repayment schedules and subsequent payments;
- Audited annual expenditure from 2006 to 2014;
- The complete asset-and-liability position presented at the 2014 handover; and
- The documentary basis for the $4.05 billion expenditure calculation.
Competing records at the centre of the controversy
The dispute therefore turns largely on how different categories of public finance are being described.
The DMO’s December 2013 record provides a contemporaneous debt-stock figure of $30.32 million in external debt for Anambra.
Meanwhile, the Anambra Government’s current calculation focuses on eight external facilities with an original value of $123.77 million and a claimed outstanding balance of $92.35 million as of June 2026.
Meanwhile, Obi’s 2014 handover documentation records substantial investments, balances and a stated N5 billion in estimated liabilities.
These figures are not necessarily measuring the same thing or at the same point in time.
The central unresolved question, therefore, is how the original financing facilities, actual disbursements, debt stock at handover, repayments by successive administrations and other financial obligations fit together.
The Village Boys said it has no objection to scrutiny of Obi’s record.
They insisted, though, that the debate should be settled through complete financial records rather than political claims.
“Let the authorities publish the complete records and let Nigerians examine the evidence for themselves,” the movement said.
