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By Myke Agunwa
The wife of former Minister of Transportation, Judith Amaechi, has challenged the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to make public the audit report showing that she or her company received N4 billion monthly from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Pointblanknews.com had reported that Wike claimed in a television programme that Amaechi’s wife was awarded a contract to the tune of N48 Billion naira to train Niger Delta women through a company allegedly linked to her.
“Amaechi’s wife was never an industrialist—the best I know,” Wike declared. “Mr President should release the forensic audit of the NDDC. Her company got N4 billion monthly to train Niger Delta women, and within one year, N48 billion was involved.”
According to Wike, the forensic audit report, commissioned under the previous administration to probe massive financial mismanagement within the NDDC, has been suppressed to shield powerful individuals.
The Minister asked President Bola Tinubu to release the report of the forensic audit carried out on NDDC, saying that it contains records about how Amaechi’s wife allegedly benefited from the intervention agency.
However, in a statement on Tuesday, signed by the media assistant to Mrs Amaechi, Dike Bekwele, the former Rivers State First Lady described Wike’s allegations as “wild and unfounded.”
She accused the FCT Minister of using the claims as political blackmail aimed at undermining her reputation and the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI), the company involved.
She said ESI, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) she founded, has maintained a transparent partnership with the NDDC.
“It is both absurd and a mere figment of Mr. Wike’s imagination. 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 N4bn from the Niger Delta Development Commission.
“Quite contrary to the falsehood concocted and diffused by Mr. Nyesom Wike, the counterpart funding between the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) and the NDDC is in the public glare for scrutiny.
“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.
“We expect that Minister Nyesom Wike will remain patient to his prayers answered on the unpublished NDDC forensic audit report, than to engage and indulge in media trials on a Live National telecast.
“We, therefore, challenge Mr. Wike to make public his version of the forensic audit report on the Niger Delta Development Commission, where either Dame Judith Amaechi or the ESI was indicted.
“In the likely event that Wike fails to provide such a 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.”