Judith Amaechi, the wife of former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, has described as absurd and baseless the claim by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, that she got ₦4bn monthly from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for women empowerment and training.
Judith also faulted Wike’s claim that she has been indicted in a corruption probe involving the NDDC. She added that the allegation levelled against her by Wike was a “subtle blackmail to score cheap political goals”.
Nyesom Wike and Rotimi Amaechi shared a similar political history as former governors of oil-rich Rivers State in the Niger Delta area of the country. Amaechi was in office from May 2007 to May 2015 when he handed over to Wike who was equally in office for eight years. The relationship between both men have since fallen apart and they have been embroiled in counter diatribes.
Wike, in an interview earlier in July 2025, had claimed Judith got ₦4bn monthly and a total of ₦48bn to train Niger Delta women.
However, in a statement on Tuesday by Judith’s spokesperson, Dike Bekwele, the wife of the former minister said there was no iota of veracity in the allegation leveled by Wike against Judith 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 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.
Judith 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.
