Many a man projects the breadth and intellect of Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, the amiable Minister of Petroleum and routinely fails to shine in the finer aspects of persona. But the man, Kachikwu, is splendidly different. Besides his razor-sharp intellect, he burnishes his style with inexorable dashes of ingenuity and bespoke suits. While his resourcefulness may be attributed to his genius, the custom-tailored suits, with charily sculpted contours and other personalized details projects the crucial aspects of a groomed character.
Kachikwu, no doubt, reinvents boardroom poise in the luster of his fastidious style. Whether he is sipping scotch or expensive wine on an airplane with high society, disentangling the mystifying accounts of the NNPC or watching a classic performance in an exclusive theatre, Kachikwu looks impeccable doing it. Bespoke suits tailored by Savile Row’s best, complemented with classic male accessories, reveal a fine eye for detail and embodiment of class by the petroleum boss. Men like Kachikwu are hardly expected to combine being hip with braininess but he manifests a radical exception. He is brainy and hip and he does not have to apologize for it.
Curiously, however, Kachikwu hardly fits the bungling public officer stereotype. He cuts the full portrait of the quintessential reformer needed to sanitize the nation’s petroleum sector, no doubt. He certainly rides the tide of the rough, rude sea of the petroleum industry, like a storm-hardened sailor. Since he assumed duties, profiteers from the erstwhile corrupt regime of the nation’s oil sector have embarked on a campaign on calumny against him.
Following their inability to woo him and induce him to compromise, these human elements comprising major oil magnates and NNPC staff in particular, have begun a smear campaign meant to tarnish the image of the minister and sabotage his efforts to rid the oil sector of corruption. However, in the wake of the malicious rumours, friends and business associates of Kachikwu dismissed the uncomplimentary tales about him claiming is not only baseless and undeserving of attention, it is also professionally rascally and a poorly choreographed bunch of lies.
