Judith Amaechi, wife of former Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi, has dismissed the claim by Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike that she received N4 billion monthly from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for women’s empowerment programmes..
She has also described the allegation as absurd and baseless.
Mrs Amarchi dismissed Wike’s assertion that she was implicated in an NDDC corruption probe, calling it a subtle attempt at political blackmail.
Nyesom Wike and Rotimi Amaechi, both former governors of Rivers State, share a long political history. Amaechi served from 2007 to 2015 before handing over to Wike, who completed his own eight-year tenure in 2023. Their once-close alliance has since fractured, leading to frequent public disputes.
Wike had in an interview early this month, accused Mrs. Amaechi of collecting N4 billion monthly from the NDDC, totaling N48 billion over a year, for women’s training initiatives in the Niger Delta.
However in a statement issued on Tuesday through her spokesperson, Dike Bekwele, Judith Amaechi denied any wrongdoing.
She maintained that Wike’s allegations were entirely false and lacked any evidence. The statement also clarified that neither she nor her Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) had any involvement in such transactions.
“Dame Amaechi did not and has never received four billion naira monthly payments (N4,000,000,000.00) from the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
“The partnership between the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) and the NDDC is reciprocal, to jointly fund human capacity programmes and trainings for the teeming youths and women; supporting nano, micro, small and medium scale entrepreneurs, and its entrepreneurial development centre for youths and women of the Niger Delta Region.
“It will be preposterous for Wike to allege that the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) or Dame Judith Amaechi was indicted in the NDDC forensic audit report, which has not been published to the Nigerian Public. It is both absurd, baseless, and a mere figment of Mr. Wike’s imagination,” the statement read.
She challenged Wike to make public his version of the forensic audit report on the NDDC, where either she or the ESI was indicted.
“In the likely event that Wike fails to provide such report, then we challenge Mr. Wike to actuate his boast and make bold to tender his resignation as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, forthwith with an unreserved apology to the Nation,” the statement read.
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