Mrs Judith Amaechi, wife of former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, has denied an allegation by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, that her organisation, the Empowerment Support Initiative, received ₦4 billion monthly from the Niger Delta Development Commission. Wike had made the claim during a live television interview, alleging that the funds were being paid to ESI as part of a long-standing arrangement with the NDDC. He also suggested that the organisation might have been indicted in the NDDC forensic audit report, which has not yet been made public. Reacting to the allegation in a statement on Tuesday made available to PUNCH Online by her media aide, Dike Bekwele, Mrs Amaechi described the claims as “false and baseless,” insisting that neither she nor ESI had ever received such funds from the interventionist agency. “The allegation that ESI receives ₦4 billion monthly from NDDC is completely untrue. ESI was established in 2011 as a duly incorporated non-governmental organisation focused on empowering youths and women through skills acquisition and entrepreneurial development,” the statement read.