July 13, (THEWILL) — The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, last week accused the wife of former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi of receiving N4 billion monthly from the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to train Niger Delta women. He made the allegation during an appearance on Channels TV, Politics Today, hosted by Seun Okinbaloye.
In the course of the interview, the FCT Minister said, “Amaechi’s wife’s company, every month, got N4 billion to train Niger Delta women. That is N48 billion in one year alone and the forensic audit report is there. Who killed it? It was (Abubakar) Malami, then the Attorney-General. That is one of the people who is now talking. Mr President should help Nigerians. You see, this is what I have always said. Mr President should help Nigerians. Please, release the forensic audit of the NDDC.
“I have said, let Mr President please do us a favour to release that document. Former Attorney-General, Malami, killed that document to protect those who were concerned. “First of all, Amaechi’s wife was not an industrialist. She has never been and that is why I call on Mr President to release the forensic audit of NDDC.
I am not just saying what I am saying; let them release the document. If what I am saying is not in the document, I will resign as the Minister of the FCT. I said I will resign.”
Now, rival political actions often come with mud-slinging. But what the Minister said is too weighty to be confined to politicking. His allegation borders on corruption, accountability, systemic abuse and due process.
For one, the accusation goes beyond Amaechi and his wife. It indicted the Federal Government, the NNDC and cover-ups of wrongdoing in high places. Almost two weeks since the allegation was made, only an accountability NGO, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, and a group of women in Rivers State, Rivers State Women Association of Nigeria, RIVSWAN, have commented on such a weighty allegation. The NNDC is still mute. The Presidency has not said a word.
RIVSWAN’s acting president Ichechi Welendu described Wike’s claims as “baseless falsehoods driven by bitterness, ignorance and a worrying lack of self-restraint, a concocted story fuelled by personal vendetta and misinformation.”
She said the claims reflect either a gross misunderstanding of the NDDC’s budgetary structure or a deliberate effort to smear the name of a respected woman of substance.”
More punchy because of its direct focus on the details of the claim, SERAP stated that the Federal Government should publish details of the forensic audit report of the NNDC from 2000 to 2019 conducted under the immediate past government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
SERAP warned in a letter to President Bola Tinubu, urging him to direct the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, to release the report, failing which it would initiate legal action before the ECOWAS Court of Justice to compel the government to act in the public interest.
Arguing that the audit report may be uncomfortable reading for indicted officials, it can no longer be left to gather dust more so when “your government has a constitutional obligation to publish it and act on its findings.”
SERAP described attempts to suppress or delay the report as a deliberate obstruction of justice, enabling perpetrators to evade accountability.
“There is a legitimate public interest in publishing the full forensic audit report. Naming and shaming those who allowed it to be buried is crucial for justice,” the organisation stated.
We are with SERAP and urge the government to expedite action on the forensic audit report. The people of Niger Delta need to know how the money allocated to the Commission was deployed for intervention on critical areas that would alleviate their suffering, hardship, poverty and lack arising from despoliation and degradation from oil exploration and exploitation.
In fact, Buhari summed up the criticisms and anxiety of the people when on setting up the audit committee in October 2019, he said, “The projects said to have been done must be verifiable. You just cannot say you spent so many billions and when the place is visited, one cannot see the structures that have been done. The consultants must also prove that they are competent.”
