• Why petroleum minister rejected friends’ gift of expensive birthday bash
These are hard times and Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu understands this sad fact. Hence his reluctance to be facetious. As he clocks another year, the petroleum minister has refused to deify licentiousness and scorn wisdom. That is why he refused to throw a lavish party in celebration of his birthday. More importantly, Kachikwu firmly impressed it upon his closest friends and associates to ditch any idea and plans to host him to any lavish birthday party. Unlike too many of his peers who would rather ignore the harsh realities of the day to cavort with friends and family, Kachikwu, like a catechist burdened with the sins of his parish, called for deeper reflection and sensitivity to the plight of the country’s long-suffering citizenry amid the ongoing recession.
Findings revealed that immediately he discovered that his very close friends and associates were secretly planning to host him to a surprise soiree, he told them to place a lid on it. Kachikwu reportedly told them in his most candid mien, to jettison the idea as he was not cut out for frivolity of any kind while Nigeria grapples with economic decline and the country’s poor citizenry groaned under the weight of lack and recession.
