Dame Judith Amaechi has refuted claims by the Minister of FCT claim that linking her to N4 billion contracts.
Wike claimed on TV that Dame Judith Amaechi and the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) receives ₦4,000,000,000.00 monthly from the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
A statement by Dike Bekwele, the Media Assistant to Dame Judith Amaechi said the minister’s claim is blackmail intended to undermine the reputation and integrity of Her Excellency and the ESI.
The statement dismissed the allegations as untrue and categorically state the following:
“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 ₦4,000,000,000.00 from the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC” the statement said.
It explained that “the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI), was duly incorporated in 2011 as a Non-Governmental Organization with the Corporate Affairs Commission, and it has secured partnerships and collaborations with a memorandum of understanding with development partners including the interventionist agency, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).”
It further explained that “the partnership, between the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) and the NDDC are 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 center for youths and women of the Niger Delta Region.”
“This partnership has been successfully executed since its commencement to the satisfaction of both Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) and the NDDC, with numerous youths and women within the Niger Delta region benefitting from the scheme for self-reliance and sustainability” it noted.
On the monetary value, the statement indicated that “the counterpart funding between the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) and the NDDC is in 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 imaginations” it noted.
“The Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) enjoys a robust partnership and relationship with its development partners including the NDDC. Such relationship has provided interventions in critical areas of the region, including empowerment of the youths and women in vocation and skills required for middle -level manpower by corporate organizations in the Niger Delta Region. Again, the allegation of an indictment of Dame Amaechi and the ESI is only a subtle blackmail to score cheap political goals” it stated.
The statement “challenged 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 were 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.”
