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A group, Association of Non Violent Youths in the Niger Delta, has congratulated the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, on his recent multiple honours in the United States.
Mr George Okitikpi, the Vice President of the peace advocacy group, gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Asaba on Monday.
NAN recalls that Kachikwu was on Thursday last week conferred with an honorary citizenship of the State of Georgia in the United States.
He was also conferred with honorary doctorate degree by the Trinity International University of Ambassadors, and Keys to the State of South Carolina and City of Stonecrest, State of Georgia.
The event, which held at the Capitol Hill of the state in Atlanta, also featured the declaration of Oct. 25 as `Emmanuel Kachikwu Day’ by the State of South Carolina.
Okitikpi said that the recent laurel and honorary citizenship awarded to the minister of state for petroleum were well deserved and had proved his critics wrong.
He noted that the multiple honours were clear evidence that groups behind some “campaigns of calumny” against him were just out to blackmailhim.
The minister of state was recently reported to have claimed that he bagged a first class degree in Law from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, but he said he never made such a claim.
”Indeed the world is now a global village such that what Kachikwu is doing is seen by all.
“These feats buttress our initial claim that the man is an exceptional fellow, a quintessential scholar, a doyen in his field.
“This is the calibre of person an infinitesimal few want to blackmail. He is an upright man that commands enormous respect from people.
“We urge those behind this evil orchestration against Kachikwu to have a rethink,” he said.
Okitikpi said the Association of Non Violent Youths in the Niger Delta was committed to ensuring peace, unity and economic growth in the region and the country.
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