Dame Judith Amaechi, wife of former Rivers State Governor and immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, has vehemently refuted claims by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, that she received N4 billion monthly from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for empowerment programmes.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by her media aide, Dike Bekwele, Mrs. Amaechi categorically dismissed Wike’s allegations as “baseless, false, and aimed at tarnishing her image for political gain.” She challenged the FCT Minister to provide concrete evidence to support his assertions.

Wike had made the explosive allegation during a recent live television interview (on Channels Television’s “Politics Today” on Friday, July 4, 2025), claiming that Mrs. Amaechi’s non-governmental organization, the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI), received N4 billion monthly for one year from the NDDC, purportedly for the training of Niger Delta women. He further called on President Bola Tinubu to release the long-awaited forensic audit report of the NDDC, vowing to resign his ministerial position if the report did not corroborate his claims.

“There is absolutely no iota of veracity in the allegation made by Mr. Wike against Dame Amaechi and the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI). Dame Amaechi did not and has never received FOUR BILLION NAIRA monthly payments (₦4,000,000,000.00) from the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC,” the statement from Mrs. Amaechi’s camp read.

She clarified that ESI, incorporated in 2011, has indeed partnered with development agencies, including the NDDC, under verifiable memoranda of understanding. These collaborations, she stated, focused on youth and women empowerment through entrepreneurial development and vocational training, and were transparently executed and publicly documented. Mrs. Amaechi highlighted that such counterpart funding arrangements between ESI and the NDDC are publicly available for scrutiny.

Furthermore, Mrs. Amaechi refuted any suggestion of indictment in the NDDC forensic audit report, noting that the report has not yet been made public. “It is preposterous for Wike to allege any indictment in a report that has not been published. It is both absurd, baseless, and a mere figment of Mr. Wike’s imaginations,” her media aide stated, adding that the allegation is a “subtle blackmail to score cheap political goals.”

In light of his claims, Mrs. Amaechi challenged Wike to make public his version of the forensic audit report that implicates her or ESI. In the event of his failure to provide such evidence, she demanded that the FCT Minister retract his allegations, tender an unreserved apology to the nation, and resign his ministerial position, as he had publicly vowed to do if his claims proved untrue.

This public exchange marks the latest salvo in the long-running and often acrimonious political rivalry between Rotimi Amaechi and Nyesom Wike, both influential figures from Rivers State. The dispute brings renewed attention to the NDDC’s financial dealings and the calls for transparency in the management of intervention funds for the Niger Delta region.